It was looking down slope. On the other hand, maybe a snow-wise animal that has just been nearly killed in an avalanche knows how to keep another pile of snow from crashing down on it. Maybe it knows to go to the nearest bush, hang on and stay still until the snow refreezes. Maybe it was wishing that the human over there wouldn't keep jumping around taking picture. Or may not.
All speculations welcome.
About 45 minutes passed, the sky began to darken and it started to snow. Wooldridge admits that all things being equal, he might have considered trying the rather dangerous crossing of the avalanche debris and continuing for a little while with his run, he hadn't reached the day's goal. All in all, it seemed a good time to call it a day. On the way down, he saw more tracks on the slopes below but they were distant and inaccessible and the light was getting worse. He took 5 or 6 photos that, when eventually developed, came out black.