Backcountry skier fatally buried in avalanche near Breckenridge
Searchers found the body of a 31-year-old backcountry skier buried in an avalanche near Breckenridge late Saturday night after the man's girlfriend called 9-1-1 that afternoon and reported him overdue.
Two Summit County Rescue Group members skied into the area on the east side of Bald Mountain, according to the agency. They obtained a transceiver signal and, at 11 p.m., discovered the man buried less than two feet below the surface in the slide's debris field.
His body was brought out on a toboggan in the early morning hours Sunday, the agency stated.
Bald Mountain, known locally as "Baldy," is located three miles southeast of Breckenridge. It's elevation is 13,684 feet.
The girlfriend, per SCRG, said the skier had left to ski a northeast facing couloir on Bald Mountain that morning and he was not answering calls by the time he was expected to back at his car.
A Flight For Life medical helicopter based in nearby Frisco was launched for an immediate look at the area. The crew identified a slide but did not see ski tracks heading into or out of it.
"Conditions in the area were windy and therefore any tracks could have been covered up at that point," SCRG stated in a press release.
The copter retreated due to darkness and a ground team was then organized.
Personnel from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center visited the debris field Sunday and will provide a detailed report later.
Saturday's fatality was the 11th death attributed to avalanches in the 2022-23 ski season. That is one of the higher totals since the CAIC began tracking that data. A dozen people were killed in the 2020-21 season, 11 in 2012-13.
The CAIC released video of another avalanche from Saturday. This slide happened in Quandary Couloir, one of several skiable gulleys on the north side of Quandary Peak, a 14,265-ft peak 10 miles south of Breckenridge.
The CAIC advised skiers and snowboarders to tackle their backcountry adventures in the morning hours. As temperatures rise in the daytime, the snow softens and moves, the agency stated. The risk of movement increases dramatically once the overnight temperatures stay above freezing.
