<\/p>\n
The Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office has announced that the body of Rob Yates was recovered on Sunday, June 8. The 47-year-old was lost in an avalanche on March 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely relieved,\u201d said Sheriff Dennis Spruell.<\/p>\n
According to Spruell, family and friends established a base camp in the avalanche zone on Sharkstooth Peak in mid-May, and those private search efforts via horseback have continued nearly every weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body was found about 1 p.m. on Sunday,\u201d said Spruell.<\/p>\n
Yates was part of a five-man group of snowmobilers in the Bear Creek drainage near Sharkstooth Peak when the avalanche occurred. Yates snowmobile and helmet were found, but two official search and rescue efforts by the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office were called off because of adverse weather conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish we could have done more, but Mother Nature didn\u2019t want to work with us,\u201d Spruell said.<\/p>\n
Spruell added the investigation into the accident has been closed, and he hopes the recovery finally provides some closure for both the family and community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has caused a real mental drain on me,\u201d Spruell said. \u201cIt\u2019s been physically impossible to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yates and his wife, Tonya, were married in 1991. The couple has a 21-year-old son, Bradey Rey. In a May 19 Facebook post, Bradey Yates posted that he was keeping his fingers crossed as search and rescue efforts for his father resumed.<\/p>\n
Reached via telephone on Monday, Tonya Yates said the recovery and subsequent funeral would finally bring some closure.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have to deal with going through life without him,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Located in the La Plata Mountains north of Mancos, Sharkstooth Peak\u2019s elevation is 11,868 feet.<\/p>\n
According to Spruell, family members reported snow was still up to 15 feet deep in the avalanche zone on May 25. Family members again searched the slide area on Sunday, and Yates body was found still buried in the snow. The Montezuma County Coroner\u2019s Office contacted Care Flight, a medical response helicopter, to retrieve the body and fly it to Cortez as a public service, Spruell said.<\/p>\n
Brian Lazar, deputy director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, described last winter\u2019s avalanche season as worse than average.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season was not incredibly unusual, but we did see larger than normal avalanches that were more destructive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to Spruell, three Colorado avalanche victims remain missing.<\/p>\n
Rodeo tribute<\/p>\n
An emotional military tribute to Yates opened the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo Saturday. Tears in the crowd were wiped away by a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad had a \u2018show must go on\u2019 attitude,\u201d his son Bradey Yates said moments before Saturday\u2019s first event. \u201cThis rodeo is 84 years old. My dad may be gone, but he would want us to continue. This was his pride and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former Blackhawk helicopter crew chief, Yates was memorialized at the start of Saturday\u2019s rodeo events with full military honors. He is credited with helping to revive the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo over the last decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought a youthful enthusiasm and drive as rodeo chair,\u201d said former rodeo chairman Slim McWilliams. He\u2019s not here anymore, but we will never forget him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodeo accountant Chuck Forth, who manned the ticket gate Saturday, said about 40 community volunteers stepped up to help ease the loss of Yates and his leadership.<\/p>\n
More than 4,000 tickets were sold on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year was especially hard with the loss of Rob Yates,\u201d said Forth. \u201cWe had to step in and do a little more work, but everything has been flawless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stock contractor Jerry Honeycutt offered the same sentiment during a behind-the-scenes tour of the rodeo. He said the entire Yates family was instrumental to the rodeo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Yates have a passion to make this rodeo better each and every year, and that makes it special for all of us,\u201d said Honeycutt.<\/p>\n
Officials wore yellow ribbons in honor of Yates on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The inaugural Rob Yates Memorial Golf Tournament was held on Thursday. On a lighter note, Forth laughed when asked if cowboys could play golf. He added most had to borrow a set of clubs to play the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cowboys, well they had golf clubs in their hands,\u201d he said, chuckling.<\/p>\n
tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n Once paralyzed and feared he may never walk again, Jason McClain showed hospitality to a bareback rider injured in a separate incident Friday at the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo. Snowmobiler lost in March avalanche; body found a day after rodeo memorial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6371],"tags":[377,21,13,937],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-119636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mt-news","tag-avalanche-landslide","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-rodeo"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119636"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=119636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cortez cowboy aids injured bareback rider<\/h4>\n
\n A spectator at the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo last weekend, McClain, a 38-year-old Cortez bull rider, came to the rescue of another injured cowboy who suffered a concussion during Friday\u2019s bareback event. Stock contractor Jerry Honeycutt said McClain was neither obligated to pick the injured cowboy up from the hospital nor subsequently open his home so the bareback rider could rest.
\n \u2018It\u2019s that kind of comradery that I like best about a rodeo,\u2019 Honeycutt said. \u2018It\u2019s the people. Jason didn\u2019t have too to help, but he knew that bareback rider was here by himself.\u2019
\n Seriously injured at an Idaho rodeo three years ago, McClain said his only memory of the incident was a black, white-faced bull paralyzed him for three days. Doctors believed he might never walk again, much less compete.
\n \u2018I broke my neck,\u2019 McClain said. \u2018It was pretty bad.\u2019
\n Despite his injuries, McClain said he continues riding bulls, adding not much enters his mind when sitting in the chute, other than to hold on tight.
\n \u2018If I get in a jam, sometimes I close my eyes and wish for the best,\u2019 said McClain.
\n McClain admitted it takes \u2018some type of crazy\u2019 to get on the back of a bucking bull, but it\u2019s a profession he wouldn\u2019t trade.
\n \u2018It\u2019s everything I ever wanted to do, and the only thing I\u2019ve ever done,\u2019 McClain said. \u2018I just love it.\u2019
\n With some bulls weighing close to 2,400 pounds, McClain was quick to advise any young person considering becoming a professional bull rider to \u2018try roping\u2019 instead.
\n \u2018It\u2019s very dangerous,\u2019 he said. \u2018If you\u2019re going to do it, then you have to give it everything you got. You have to get on every bull knowing it could be your last, because it might be.\u2019
\n Honeycutt said witnessing a cowboy or stock animal suffer an injury was the worst aspect of a rodeo.
\n \u2018Rodeo is a tough and dangerous sport,\u2019 Honeycutt said. \u2018People lose their lives.\u2019
\n tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"