GEORGETOWN, Colo.-
A 53-year-old man who died after he was caught in an avalanche near Echo Lake was identified Sunday as Steven Bloom of Longmont.
Bloom had fallen about 50 yards off Colorado Highway 5 as he and a friend from the Loveland area were snowshoeing and skiing Saturday, not long before the avalanche hit, Clear Creek County sheriff’s officials said.
The slide ran about 700 vertical feet and was 200 feet wide at its crown, although it narrowed to a pile about 50 feet wide, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said.
Bloom was buried up to his neck but was pronounced dead at the scene after rescuers arrived. Sheriff’s Lt. Rick Albers said the man had a cut on his head and shoulder injuries, but he did not know what may have led to the man’s death.
Albers expected an autopsy would be conducted Monday or Tuesday.
