holy shit avalanches have always scared the shit out of me but wow. Great thread.
People are getting way to casual out of bounds, and to those BC newbies, most of these aren't the avalanches that you news that people normally die from. if you were buried in most of these, the weight of the snow alone would crush you to death, i mean look at those trees from ginkos post.
here are some avalanches that killed people to give more perspective of how dangerous it is to ski even just outside of the border.
hard to even see the crown in this next one
This is just a handful of the avy's that killed in CO last year, almost all were either inbounds or within 1/2 mile of a major resort.
the backcountry is becoming more traveled, and people aren't respecting nature. the minute you stop respecting the mountains your fucked. That's what happened to Jamie Pierre, one great skier who ended up dying due to his decision to trust that because he was experienced, he didn't need to pay attentions to the blatant signs given. RIP
IF you are experienced in the BC, be sure not to get lazy. Have avy gear every day you go out and most importantly go solo.
Dont be a statistic.
Just go through these
http://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_co.php
read a few, visit your local avy forecast site, they should have something similiar.
Although some of these had no way to be stopped, the trend is simple.
The most common mistakes of avy deaths are: not having a partner, not having avy gear, not paying attention to the signs/conditions, and making bad choices on what terrain to ski
If you want to go into the BC, Take a course, knowledge is more useful than gear (still have gear), and have a partner, and be smart.
That was most likely terribly written, but i just wanted to spill my knowledge/fear of avalanche, and hopefully something in this thread will cause someone to make a safer descision, maybe save their life 
