Heavy wet snow in Colorado’s high mountain backcountry led to snow slides that swept up at least 11 skiers since Friday, burying two, leading to two deaths — raising total avalanche fatalities in the state this past winter to nine.
Colorado’s Avalanche Information Center director Ethan Greene warned that even conditions rated as moderately dangerous by forecasters can be deadly, depending on where skiers go.
“We are dealing with this interaction of people with a natural hazard,” Greene said.
The latest fatality happened Sunday afternoon when a skier died in an avalanche in the Maroon Bowl area near the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort — an avalanche about 200 feet wide that exploded from the upper face of a loaded slope downward 2,000 feet, according to a Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office statement.
Two other skiers caught up in that avalanche managed to escape and were rescued, one by helicopter.
On Friday in Gunnison County, Joel Shute, 36, a Glenwood Springs resident, was killed — buried in four feet of snow — after an avalanche in the Rapid Creek area near Marble, Gunnison County authorities said. Two others caught in that avalanche escaped, and one was able to hike out and get help, leading to a helicopter rescue.
Elsewhere around western Colorado, two people skiing inside Rocky Mountain National Park Sunday were caught and carried in an avalanche, Greene said. This followed another avalanche inside the park Saturday that swept up a skier. And, on Red Mountain Pass in southwestern Colorado, avalanches caught two groups of skiers, he said.
No injuries were reported in those avalanches as skiers managed to escape.
Overall this past winter, avalanches have caught more than 23 people in Colorado, including at least 15 skiers, 1 snowboarder and 3 snowmobilers, burying 11, according to CAIC accident data as of Monday at noon.
The nine deaths during the past winter brought the total killed by avalanches in Colorado to 28 since 2020, CAIC records show.
Around the United States, records show avalanches over the past decade have caused an average of 27 deaths a year.
Avalanches occur naturally in the Rocky Mountains when unstable base layers of snow give way and massive amounts plunge downward. Government agencies increasingly issue forecasts and danger warnings, rating conditions, as more people head to mountain backcountry during winter.
Over the weekend, warnings rated avalanche danger as moderate around much of western Colorado — conditions that may be enticing.
“When the avalanche danger is ‘high’ or ‘extreme,’ the danger is really obvious, typically in the middle of a big storm. It just feels intuitively like a more dangerous time. And when the danger is ‘low,’ you can still trigger avalanches but the danger is less,” Greene said.
Most perilous may be the “moderate” risk conditions under blue skies, he said. “The environment is telling you it is a wonderful time to get out and recreate. But, there are places you need to avoid.”
