Missing Snowboarders reports

Hi all-
I am interested to hear what others have shared with the SAR teams about their last encounters with the missing boarders. Many have speculated where they were last seen and I am certain that me and by buddy were possibly the last to see them. With all due respect to the friends and families who may want to know maybe what happened. These are the events of my last encounter, if you feel, please share what you may know about this matter.
The SAR teams are doing their best to help and maybe this info will trigger resolution to bring these guys back to their families.

To answer your questions, Mark and myself were probably the last people they saw before dropping into Union Creek drainage. They dropped in at the saddle between Bullion and Union (Lowest point closest to the ridge line that extends down SE from East Peak) if you go up the summer trail up Bullion basin.
Since we skied the Union drainage the day before I noticed that there were snowshoe marks and what looked like a splitboard that had broken way from my uptrack. I followed their short break from my normal skintrack to bypass a couple from our group and the snow had stabilized overnight to make this crossing more feasible.
The reason I identified the boarders is that I was yelling at them from a distance of 50 feet to not slide over the uptrack Mark and I put in Union Creek the day before. That yelling did not go anywhere, as two of the boarders dropped in and the final one looked at me, then saw his friends had taken off and preceded to follow his buddies.
We made jest at the surprisingly large packs they had on their backs. These packs were so huge I don't know where they bought them? They looked like large parachute packs.
We skied in the Union Drainage to use what was left of our uptrack from the day before. They did only minor damage to the trail. The snow was stable, but only for the present snow load. There were no slides and only 2 foot isolated ski triggered sloughs from some tough skinning on a hard base in a couple spots. The place would slide if loaded with more than 4 more inches of denser snow. There is a huge rocky rollover about 1/2 way down into Union Basin that can be difficult to navigate in low snow and by evidence of the trees, slides often.
Never knew of a camp they had made, but it was tough to navigate the closer Mark and I skied to the bottom of the Union Basin due to slide alder and brush.
The snowboarders downtracks went beyond ours on Dec 1st, so I am uncertain of how far and which direction they went after seeing there downtracks tracks go out of sight by the cedar slash. We did meet, I assume Pete A and Marcus? Who used our uptrack that day and had a third member of their team that struggled a little with a skin issue.
Besides the Union Creek Basin, there is huge potential for danger in that drainage from many aspects.
Hope there is resolution to this matter soon.
Joe

Hi Joe,

Pete and I were over on Crown Point with four others and didn't really run into anyone that day after passing three boarders at the head of Bullion. I guessed that it might be them (and that's why I ended up talking to Pierce County, then putting them in touch with you).

I wish that I had paid more attention to them when we passed on the ridge, but they fit the descriptions pretty well and their location fits with where you saw them, if I've got all my drainages labeled right in my brain. When we passed by them they were getting things organized at the top of the ridge and looked like they were taking their time. That was probably about 10:30 on Saturday.

That's about right because I estimated that they dropped into Union Creek at about 10:45.
SAR did not give me the location of their shanty, but it is possible to connect to Concrete basin from the basin of Union. Although, the avalanche danger in the crossing is very high and only to be done in real stable conditions. I assumed that since the snow coverage was low in that crossing that the cedar slash and downed trees would have been heck to cross with those big packs. I thought about taking our group that way, but it was evident that the slash would be to much to bear.
Considering the density of that forest it is amazing that they found their shack, but not them.
I saw from a distance a group that skied into the North face of Crown with a dog, and saw another group on the SE face of Crown (Orion group). Our group split in two when we reached Bullion Peak, 3 opting to ski Bullion back to the car and me and a buddy went for the tour to Pickhandle gap. When the wind really picked up at around 2pm.
The magnitude of snow that fell overnight combined with wind and warming, must have cleaned Union Creek's slopes.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter, it would be less than prudent for me to speculate what may have happened. It is hard to read the mind of people in distress.
After talking with SAR they seem to have a good handle on the possibilities and I am willing to help if they accept volunteers.
Good luck to all involved!

That does fit. We were the group with the dog that did a couple of laps on the north face of Crown. We boogied when the weather started coming in and yeah, we experienced the same conditions re: stability.

If you hear from anyone about volunteering, Joe, let me know -- I'd be happy to spend my weekend up there if it would help.

From the above observations, it sure seems likely they made it to their shelter. If they stayed Sat night into Sunday and were surrounded by av'es coming down, perhaps they decided to exit the creek valley to SR410. There is a summer trail and perhaps they were familiar with it as it would have been a likely route to pre-build/stock their camp. Just wondering if anyone is looking that direction?