1 Killed, at Least 2 Buried in Colorado Avalanche

A massive avalanche swept down a mountain outside a ski resort on Wednesday, killing one skier and burying at least two others beneath 30 feet of snow, authorities said.

“We have every hope the people will be rescued safely. But as the minutes go by, that becomes less of a possibility,” Summit County Undersheriff Gary Lindstrom said.

Authorities said one body was found Wednesday evening and at least two skiers were trapped.

The exact number of those who might be missing was not immediately known. Lindstrom said one witness believed six people were trapped, and a radio station reported that a witness said four people were missing.

Searchers Probe Snow

Searchers were trudging side-by-side across the mountainside, probing the snow with long metal poles. Two dogs trained to sniff out avalanche victims arrived from Vail, and lookouts were posted to warn skiers against the threat of more avalanches, officials said.

Witnesses said the avalanche was half a mile wide and roared from the mountaintop “in a tremendous cloud of snow.” It plowed away the snow in its path and left a scar of dirt for 800 yards down Peak Seven on national forest land next to the Breckenridge ski resort, about 75 miles southwest of Denver.

John Digiacomo of Arvada, Colo., said he was skiing within the boundaries of Breckenridge and saw two skiers at the top of Peak Seven about a half a mile away. He said he thinks the skiers may have triggered the avalanche.

“We saw a fracture line about 30 yards wide. We saw two skiers at the very top of the peak move into an area where we thought it was dangerous. Then the slide started and there was a tremendous cloud of snow as it moved down the mountain. It only took about 20 seconds to reach the bowl, about 800 feet,” Digiacomo said.

‘20-30 Feet Deep’

Lindstrom said officers described the avalanche as “huge, 20 to 30 feet deep.”

“We’re talking with witnesses to help us identify the area where the people might be buried,” he said.

The national forest land where the avalanche occurred is not patrolled but skiing is allowed. No avalanche warnings were posted at the time, and Gary Loving of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Denver said the overall avalanche danger in the Colorado mountains is “moderate.”

Dr. Jim Winkler, the emergency room director at Porter Medical Center in the Denver suburb of Englewood, said people “can survive under the snow for days if they survive the initial crush of the snow. Suffocation is initially the biggest danger. Later on, if you survive that, there’s always a chance of hypothermia.”