At least five backcountry explorers have been caught in avalanches in Colorado’s mountains since Friday, two of whom were injured, according to state reports.
One backcountry skier was caught in an avalanche at about 3:30 p.m. Friday and partially buried east of Vail, according to the . The snow pinned her against a tree and she had cuts on her face, according to a .
“There were no signs of cracking beforehand, but we knew it was not totally stable,” the skier’s partner wrote in the report. “We were extremely lucky to be mostly okay after such a large avalanche.”
Another skier was injured at about noon Saturday, when an avalanche tore down Hallett Peak, . Hallett Peak is a mountain in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, west of Estes Park.
The skier grabbed a tree as the runaway snow hit, dislocating his shoulder, the report stated. A snowboarder in the same group was caught in the avalanche, but neither was buried.
A shows snow carrying the first person away, and a second wave of snow coming loose as the other members of the group go to follow the caught party down the mountain.
Snow partially buried a backcountry skier later that day on Mount Trelease, east of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel, .
That avalanche at about 2 p.m. Saturday carried the skier roughly 100 feet down the mountain, after which she pulled minor debris off herself and carried on, the skier wrote in a report.
At about 11:58 a.m. Saturday, a backcountry skier was seen dropping onto a mountain face along Jones Pass, west of Berthoud Pass, and triggering an avalanche. The snow carried them roughly 150 feet down the mountain, .
The skier was not injured, according to the report.
