Avalanche in Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center provided all the information regarding this fatal avalanche accident. The incident occurred in the Northwest San Juan Mountains, on the slopes of Red Mountain #3. The snowpack in this location was known to be weak, and the avalanche danger on the day of the accident was rated as Moderate, or 2/5 on a scale where 1 is the least danger and 5 is the most danger. The victim of the accident, referred to as Skier 1 from here on, was travelling alone although they had arranged a check in system with their spouse. After completing several clean runs, Skier 1 triggered an avalanche that caught and buried them under approximately 1 meter of snow, which prevented self-excavation under the circumstances. When Skier 1 became overdue for the scheduled check-in with their spouse, the spouse notified search and rescue teams, and went to search for their spouse on their own. The spouse found Skier 1 buried and, with the help of nearby backcountry skiers and Ouray Mountain Rescue Team, were able to remove Skier 1 from the avalanche debris. However, Skier 1 had been buried for 4 or more hours, and had unfortunately passed away.

A dry and mild December led to the weakening of the snowpack started in November. On top of this now weak snowpack, in the early days of January, a fresh additional 24 inches of snow fell, weakening the snowpack further. This set the stage for potentially injurious or fatal avalanches in the area.