A skier was caught, carried and hospitalized by a large wet slide in the Sky Chutes on Saturday, April 12.
Sky Chutes are on the west side of the Tenmile Range easily seen from Copper and accessed from Breck.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says a group of three accessed the chutes via Peak 6 at Breckenridge. They left the backcountry gate around 11:45 a.m. Conditions that day were some of the warmest of the season so far, breaking 67 degrees in nearby Dillon with lots of sun and gusty winds.
The trio dropped into the “K” chute and skied to treeline. Their report calls the snow “crusty.” They were leap-frogging into the gut of the chute when an avalanche broke, dragging one skier an estimated 1,100 vertical feet through trees and over dirt.
The victim (Skier 2 in the CAIC report) was injured but never buried, and lost his skis in the slide. The remaining two skiers (Skier 1 and Skier 3) were never caught.
“Skier 1 assisted Skier 2 in walking down the gully to the skier’s right side onto bare ground,” the report reads. “They continued to descend, walking on bare ground. Eventually, they ran out of bare ground and were post-holing deeply in soft, wet snow. Travel was very difficult.”
The victim was treated the same day for unspecified injuries.
A different group later discovered the victim’s skis, which caused some confusion.
“At around 2 p.m., a group of two skiers left the Breckenridge ski area from the same backcountry access point,” the CAIC report continued. “A third group of skiers arrived at the top of the path at the same time. The two groups communicated about the avalanche. The third group had a photo of the K Chute from 8:30 that morning with no avalanche. The two groups descended the path with their avalanche transceivers in search mode. They found a set of skis as they descended. The group picked up the skis and brought them with them.”