A backcountry skier says he is “very lucky” to be alive and “even luckier to be uninjured” after an avalanche on Berthoud Pass yesterday.
The slide broke at least one hundred feet wide and over four feet deep on the Postage Stamp, an east-facing bowl near the Berthoud Pass summit.
Local rescuers and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center say the skier was dragged more than 200 vertical feet into a stand of trees, where he was buried to his chest. He dug himself out and reunited with his ski partner, shaken but unharmed.
Writes the victim in his long and introspective report, the two chose a riskier line on sketchier snowpack. He says, “We shouldn’t have let our stoke cloud our judgement.”
Straight Creek slide
Here in Summit County yesterday a snowboarder was caught in a smaller slide northwest of the Eisenhower Tunnel near Straight Creek.
CAIC says the snowboarder was digging a pit when the slide broke above him. He was swept about 50 feet downhill over snowpack described as “minimal” with “lots of rocks visible.” The victim walked away without injuries.
Avalanche danger over the weekend (Jan. 17-18) was moderate at most elevations in Summit County and the Vail area. It remains moderate today with danger now extending to south-facing slopes.
Snowpack is lean, but what we have is wind-loaded and incredibly inconsistent. There are multiple buried weak layers and a freeze crust from Christmas rain. Avy pros are calling it the “Grinch Crust.”
Images from Berthoud Pass and Straight Creek via CAIC.