I like it! Thanks for the smile. The thing that is bothersome is this; if a slab hit the tent and they cut their way out, then there was no need to remove an overburden of snow. They could simply send one or two back in to the cut to get boots etc.
Too, much has been made of the packed away stove. I think that in the forest,a stove would work well with nearby fuel and less wind. On an exposed slope with high wind, I think that the stove would backdraft and smoke up or set fire to the tent. Since the stove was not used, I suspect the tent was not as strongly reinforced.
Footprints in snow suggest although leaving the tent was necessary, leaving it on the run, not so much.. Leaving the tent was a matter of life and death, or was it just inconvenience? Photos of the tent when found show a collapsed middle. Why? The stove wasnt used, so the outside rigging wasnt used. When the slab dumped on the uphill side of the tent, those laying with their heads on that side would suffocate unless freed. Therefore, cuts were made on the downhill side to get out. The cut tent could not be fixed just then and need for heat and shelter prompted a controlled descent to the tree line, a,big inconvenience.