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Photo from Colorado Avalanche Information Center Officials are urging backcountry users to be extra careful this winter after three people were killed in avalanches in southern Colorado this weekend. A pair of fatal avalanches in recent days has officials concerned that it could be a particularly deadly season in the backcountry. On Friday, Dec. 18, a solo skier was buried and killed in an avalanche in the Anthracite Range, just west of Crested Butte. The next day, two more backcountry skiers were caught and killed in a slide in an area called Battleship to the southeast of Ophir Pass. The th...

Ski season is fully underway in Colorado, but following the deaths of three people in two avalanches over the weekend, experts are warning those exploring the state’s mountainous backcountry to exercise extra caution and pay attention to forecasts. On Sunday, a rescue team uncovered the bodies of two skiers who were caught in an avalanche in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains a day earlier, the Associated Press reported. Durango residents Albert Perry and Dr. Jeff Paffendorf were reported missing shortly after leaving on a ski trip north of Silverton, a town tucked away in the mountains, accor...

3 Skiers Killed In Colorado Avalanches As Authorities Warn Of Weak Snowpack By Laurel Wamsley  December 22, 2020 Three skiers died in two avalanches that struck Colorado mountains in recent days, in snow that avalanche experts warn is the most unstable it has been in years. On Friday, a skier was buried by an avalanche on the northeast end of the Anthracite Range, west of Crested Butte. Two other skiers located the buried skier with a transceiver and pulled him out, but he did not survive. The next day, in an area west of Silverton, two backcountry skiers were reported missing. First respond...

In the past nine days, 84 human-triggered avalanches were reported and more than 200 natural avalanches in just the central mountains of Colorado. Researchers in the field investigating Friday’s slide in the Anthracite Range, a popular backcountry skiing area off Kebler Pass west of Crested Butte, captured this telltale image of the dangerously weak snowpack pervasive across Colorado’s mountains right now. On Saturday, two backcountry skiers were “caught, buried, and killed in an avalanche in the North San Juans,” the Colorado Avalanche Information Center reported Sunday n...

Staff The north side of Battleship near Ophir Pass. The red circle indicates where the two skiers’ bodies were found. Photo: CAIC There is a multitude of factors that can lead to avalanche conditions. Heavy, early-season snows without a strong base are one of them, and that’s exactly what’s going on in Colorado right now. Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) reported on Facebook that since Friday, 108 human-triggered avalanches occurred, calling the current conditions “the weakest snowpack we’ve seen since 2012. People need to recognize that we have unusual conditi...