Spire Gulch Safe Parking ?

Why do so many skiers and snowboarders park there sleds in the center of the Spire Gulch avalanche deposition zone when there is safe parking 200' away at the D.O.T. gun tower ? This is contrary to what I have learned about avalanche recognition and awareness . Help me understand. X

My guess is they park there due to a little bit of laziness combined with some confidence in the snowpack.  Spire Gully would have to go pretty big to hit the zone where they normally park. Some might park there out of ignorance but I would guess most of the people skiing up there aren't morons.  That path is pretty obvious. 

I do think it's a bit of an overstatement to say they park in the "center of the Spire Gulch avalanche deposition zone".  I agree that the sleds are often parked in the deposition zone but I've never seen any skiers park in the "center" of it.  I think you are correct in saying that it is safer to park near the gun tower, but my question is this.  If you park your sled there because you think it's possible for avalanches to run that big during the day, what are you doing skiing in the Hairpin Valley?  There are dozens of paths in the hairpin valley, some of them larger and more active than Spire Gully, that hit the valley bottom.  In my opinion, that would be a poor choice of terrain for the day and parking your sled at the gun tower doesn't make it a better choice. 

For anyone interested. The W.S.D.O.T. has a nice overlay showing the Spire Gulch avalanche zone on there N.C.Highway page. X

Spire Gulch Avy. Zone.

Marcus , I realized this topic may be better suited in the Weak Layers  catagory. Feel free to move it there. Thanks,  X