Replying to A-Basin and the East Wall...any thoughts?

I'm heading out to Colorado the 19-27 with a few friends of mine, and we plan on skiing all around Breckenridge, Vail, Arapahoe Basin, Copper and Keystone. We'll decide whether we want to go to all of them as the week progresses or just explore some mountains more in depth.

We are definitely going to check out A-Basin though, one of my friends has gone and says the skiing is intense. I noticed that the East Wall is now open, and I want to know if this is the sort of skiing that warrants skiing with avy gear or not. I know it is inbounds, but I heard a story of a slide that was triggered last year or recently out of bounds and slid in bounds near the East Wall.

So for all you Colorado skiers, is the East Wall the sort of skiing that we need avy gear for, or is it safe to just hike from the lifts and ski? Thanks for the input.