Three skiers killed as hundreds of avalanches rock Colorado mountains, officials say
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center reported the state saw nearly 400 avalanches in the past week, with more than 130 of them taking place the weekend before Christmas.
Hundreds of avalanches in the last week
Three backcountry skiers died as 132 avalanches rocked mountains around the state over the weekend, according to the agency. The latest incidents brought the state’s total in the last week to 380, the agency reported.
Since Friday, nine people were caught in avalanches, 49 of which were triggered by people, according to the agency. This year is the “weakest snowpack ... since 2012,” the agency wrote in a Facebook post.
“More people die in avalanches in Colorado than any other state, and this year conditions are especially dangerous,” the post says. “As we gain more snow in the coming weeks, avalanches could become even more dangerous.”
One skier died Friday
Three people were skiing “on the northeast end of the Anthracite Range, in an area locally referred to as Friendly Finish” on Friday, according to a release from the Avalanche Information Center. Two of the skiers finished their route and returned to their snowmobiles, but the third skier was nowhere to be found, the release said.
The two skiers who made it down found a fresh avalanche where the third skier had planned to travel and found the missing skier “with a transceiver search,” according to the release. “Local volunteers and Crested Butte Search and Rescue” dug the buried skier out but he “did not survive,” the release said.
Officials do not yet know what triggered the avalanche, according to the release.
Two die Saturday
Two backcountry skiers had planned a route in “an area locally known as the Battleship, southeast of Ophir Pass,” the Avalanche Information Center said in a release. They were reported overdue Saturday evening, the release said.
Rescuers saw a large avalanche and ski tracks from a helicopter in the dark and later found the skiers buried in the debris, according to the release. San Juan County Search and Rescue along with other agencies recovered the bodies on Sunday, the release said.
Officials do not know the cause of the avalanche as of Monday, according to the release.
November saw far fewer avalanches
The Avalanche Information Center recorded 141 incidents in the month of November, “though only four of them were large enough to bury a person.” Avalanches caught seven people in November, the agency said.
Last season, six people died in Colorado avalanches, according to the agency’s final Accident Report. Only one person died between November and December 2019, the report said.