are searching an area around Turquoise Lake for two overdue skiers.
The skiers — who have not been identified — are “skilled people” and were not reported missing but have not been heard from since Wednesday, said county spokeswoman Betty Benson.
Teams were organized at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to begin the search. An initial search crew was surveying the terrain before calling in additional resources, Benson said. Itap possible the pair were sheltered and safe in the area, she said. There have been no reports of avalanches in the area, just above Leadville.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center on Thursday morning issued a , forecasting a second wave of snow Thursday and strong winds that “will only compound the increasingly dangerous mountain environment.” The center ranked the avalanche danger in the zones as “considerable” above, near and below treeline. Outside of the Grand Mesa area, the rest of the state’s mountain ranges were deemed a “high” avalanche danger, with very dangerous avalanche conditions and large, natural slides occurring.
“Dangerous avalanche conditions exist across the zones, but natural and triggered slides will be larger in areas that have received the most new and drifted snow. Backcountry travel is not recommended in areas that have received more than about 2 feet of new snow,” read the advisory.
Benson said the initial team is scoping the avalanche threat before calling in additional searchers.
“It takes a while for the search team to get to the location and begin surveying the terrain. We want to be sure itap a safe area,” said Benson. “There are a lot of resources available when we can use them.”
