Tag Archive: colorado

An avalanche survivor is talking about being buried by snow to encourage others to be safe while in the mountains. A year ago he had a life changing experience. He and some friends were snowboarding at Steamboat Resort when an avalanche was triggered above them.

Miraculously, he says his friends found him just as ski patrol was arriving. “I guess my buddies were saying they took my arm out and it just flopped and I was just blue.” He was taken to a hospital and was not injured.

He wants people to know that enjoying the mountains is still a good thing. Just make sure you go with people who have avalanche training.

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During the past week backcountry skiers have triggered more than 10 avalanches in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Although nobody was seriously injured there have been some dangerous close calls.

There were six reports of skier-triggered San Juan avalanches in the Wolf Creek Pass area. And another five in the western San Juan Mountains.

One skier was caught in two avalanches. They were caught and carried about 100 to 130 feet and deployed an airbag. The skier was “pushed and knocked around but able to stay upright.”

The skier then came to a stop and got the airbag operational again. Attempting to ski down, the skier was caught in a second avalanche, carried another 100 to 130 feet and deployed the airbag again.

The unstable snowpack is a result of early season snow in October and dry weather for weeks in November, causing the snowpack to become weak. Then, additional snow on top of that weak layer causes avalanches.

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A ski patroller buried by an avalanche was on the northeast end of the Anthracite Range, known as Friendly Finish, in the Gunnison area. He was touring alone in the backcountry at the time.

The avalanche occurred on a northeast-facing slope and the avalanche risk was rated as "considerable," or 3 out of 5. The slide took place at about 10,500 feet.

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An avalanche swept a snowboarder into a tree on Tuesday afternoon. It happened on Snodgrass Mountain near Crested Butte. The snowboarder was on a split board.

While there have been several media worthy avalanche accidents already this season the official fatality list shows none in the US so far.

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Avalanche risk is already present in Colorado despite the lack of early season snow. According to a user-submitted report to the Colorado Avalanche Center a skier was caught in a human-caused avalanche burial on Monday near Marble, Colorado.

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Two backcountry snowboarders who allegedly triggered a snow avalanche near the Eisenhower Tunnel last March are now responding with a first-of-its-kind court motion.

Evan Hannibal and Tyler DeWitt are being charged with a single misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and are being ordered to pay $168,000 in restitution. However, the pair is claiming the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) violated their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

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The Colorado Department of Transportation has completed installing a remote avalanche control system on Lizard Head Pass, Colorado 145. Wyssen Avalanche Control of Switzerland’s WAC.3 system will replace aging technology and other methods CDOT currently uses.

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Several natural and human-triggered avalanches have been reported across Colorado this week, including one near Vail Pass on Thursday.

The Vail Pass avalanche broke at the ground. Although it was relatively small it could have injured someone if they had been caught in it. The avalanche was triggered by skiers.

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While the number of backcountry beginners involved in snow avalanches stayed similar before and after the pandemic and the number of intermediate users involved in avalanches actually decreased, the number of advanced skiers involved in avalanches spiked.

According to the avalanche study the results agree with previous research that has indicated that avalanche education does not reduce avalanche exposure.

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