The snow burst through the trees with no warning but a last-second whoosh of sound, a two-story wall of white and Chris Rudolph’s piercing cry: “Avalanche! Elyse!” The very thing the 16 skiers and snowboarders had sought — fresh, soft snow — instantly became the enemy. Somewhere above, a pristine meadow cracked in the shape of a lightning bolt, slicing a slab nearly 200 feet across and 3 feet deep
![Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/c3f15b7143ffe281c3967ad4849d34cd4ed5bae1/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fpackages%2Fimages%2Fmultimedia%2Fbundles%2Fprojects%2F2012%2FAvalancheDeploy%2Fchapter2_flat.jpg)