Ed, yes. Lot's of snow that year in early April. The North side of Fuller Ridge would be particularly hard to find a trail on. There have been some reports of footsteps descending steeply down the north side. There's no particular indication that those foot prints were David's, but if they were or if he followed a set not knowing which tracks actually followed the trail, he could wind up in the drainage of the West Fork where he could have gotten into some very John Donovan like trouble if you know what I mean. If he went further east, then he'd get into the East Branch of the West Fork of Snow Creek, and he'll probably never be found. I can't imagine anyone going into something that steep deliberately, but he could have slipped. To me, the West Fork is worth a search. The East Branch? No thank you.
Zip, yeah, it's nice to be on here again. Eek. I'm pulled in a lot of directions these days. I've got about 15 years until a certain someone will be college graduating age. I need to somehow be relevant in today's fast moving world of technology. I'm staying up late a lot of nights studying. It's not a whole lot of fun, and it takes away from things I'd rather be doing, like hiking (or at least talking about hiking).
HJ