Avalanches Leave 10 People Dead in One Week
The Weather Channel 2/6/2021 Jan Wesner Childs
Ten people are dead after avalanches in five different states over the course of a week, highlighting the danger that comes during the peak of avalanche season and winter weather.
The latest incident happened Thursday in Colorado, where a backcountry skier was caught up in a slide near Vail.
Avalanches also killed a skier Wednesday in California, three hikers Tuesday in Alaska, one skier Tuesday in New Hampshire, three Monday in Colorado and one Jan. 29 in Utah.
Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said such incidents aren t out of the ordinary for this time of year but recent days have been especially lethal.
SUMMIT PARK, Summit County A man died Wednesday afternoon after he was pinned by a van that was sliding down an icy road, authorities said.
A snowplow operator reported the accident, which happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Saint Moritz Strasse in Summit Park, according to a news release from the Summit County Sheriff s Office.
The van started to slide down the icy roadway, and the man went behind the van to try to stop it, the release said. However, he was run over by the van and got pinned between the van, a snowbank and a tree, authorities said.
SUMMIT PARK, Summit County A man died Wednesday afternoon after he was pinned by a van that was sliding down an icy road, authorities said.
A snowplow operator reported the accident, which happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Saint Moritz Strasse in Summit Park, according to a news release from the Summit County Sheriff s Office.
The van started to slide down the icy roadway, and the man went behind the van to try to stop it, the release said. However, he was run over by the van and got pinned between the van, a snowbank and a tree, authorities said.
Avalanche Fatality Reported Outside Boundaries of Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort
This photo of the Square Top area was taken on the morning of Sunday, January 31, following avalanche control work to help rescuers safely enter the zone. Courtesy Utah Avalanche Center
On Saturday, January 30, 57-year-old Kurt Damschroder of Park City, Utah, was caught and killed in an avalanche beyond Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort. This is Utah’s second avalanche fatality of the season, the first of which occurred on an adjacent ridge on January 8.
According to a statement made by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Damschroder and a partner were traveling through the Square Top area beyond Park City Mountain Resort’s boundaries when they triggered the avalanche. Both individuals were carrying avalanche rescue gear, and while Damschroder’s partner was able to unbury the snowboarder and attempt live-saving measures, the friend was forced to descend due to “extreme avalanche danger
Summit County deputies helped recover a rental car that had gone missing from the area more than a week before and was located several hundred miles away in Vail, Colorado, according to a report from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The rental agency reported the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu stolen on Jan. 26 after it wasn’t returned on Jan. 15. The agency requested that Summit County deputies list the car on a national registry of stolen vehicles.
Once that was done, the ONSTAR system in the vehicle located it in Vail, according to the report.
Deputies indicated the vehicle was remotely disabled and that the Vail Police Department recovered it.