For the most part, I don't question anything that the patrol at Alpine does. I'd say if anything they are on the more conservative side, but obviously if there is any doubt whatsoever it's better to keep stuff closed. The only thing I have ever questioned is how Beaver and Estelle could be closed because of avalanche concerns, yet low Beaver traverse can be open, allowing people to ski right under and across many avalanche paths. Twice I've set off slides in bounds that could have seriously injured someone had they been directly below (years ago), but I know that avalanche control (or mitigation) is an inexact science. There is no way that they can get to every single little pocket that could possibly avalanche, and sometime, such as yesterday, things get bombed (sometimes more than once) and still don't move.
I was at Alpine yesterday and was surprised to see relatively little slide activity from AC in the morning. I was in the area of the avalanche at around the time it happened, and was kicking off little slabs. It just felt like the snow was not adhering to the ice at all, and I was definitely mindful of the possibility of getting flushed over a cliff or into some trees or rocks. But it was controlled and people were all over it for a while before those guys hit just the wrong spot, and got pushed into the wrong area. So it does seem like a fluke thing, I'm sure patrollers are feeling awful about it, but not sure what they could have done different.