Colorado: Skier Buried About Five Minutes in Mount Bross Avalanche and Rescued, First Burial of the Season
PARK COUNTY, Colorado — The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) reported that on October 25 a large wind-slab avalanche ran on the east-facing slope of 14,178-foot Mount Bross, above 14,000 feet. One skier was partially buried with his head under the snow; companions dug him out in about five minutes, and the whole party self-evacuated. CAIC said it was Colorado's first avalanche burial of the season.
The avalanche ran roughly 500 vertical feet, according to the report. Wind-slab avalanches, triggered when hard slabs of wind-deposited snow fracture, are a common and dangerous early-season hazard in Colorado's high country.
CAIC reminds backcountry skiers and mountaineers that avalanche season has begun: check the avalanche forecast before going out, and carry a transceiver, shovel and probe and travel with partners. In this incident, it was companion rescue that freed the buried skier within minutes.
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：科罗拉多州 Mount Bross 山体实景（CC BY 3.0，Wikimedia Commons），非雪崩现场。Mount Bross, Colorado (CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons); file photo, not the avalanche site.
