A mother and son are OK after a Sunday avalanche on Loveland Pass threatened the backcountry skiers.
Summit County Rescue Group says it received a call for a buried skier on the pass and responded with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, a Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment team, Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol and Flight For Life Colorado. But before the groups got there, the skiers were able to get out on their own.
The two were trying to retrieve a piece of rappel gear they had left behind the day before when they rappelled to ski a chute locally known as Butt Crack, according to SCRG. The son was cutting across a steep slope at the top of the chute when he triggered an avalanche just below the ridge. The man was taken 200 to 300 feet down the mountain in avalanche debris, falling an estimated 50 feet off a cliff, SCRG said.
The mother stayed safe and was not caught, allowing her to reach her son in about 10 minutes and help him get unburied out of waist-deep snow. SCRG says that the son suffered some minor injuries.
“It is incredible that the skier caught was able to walk away from this accident,” SCRG wrote on Facebook. “Although avalanche danger has been relatively low lately, there is still danger, and it’s important not to get complacent.”
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