{"id":23403,"date":"2025-02-21T04:38:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/backcountry-snowboarder-killed-in-avalanche-north-of-silverton\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:35:18","slug":"backcountry-snowboarder-killed-in-avalanche-north-of-silverton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/backcountry-snowboarder-killed-in-avalanche-north-of-silverton\/","title":{"rendered":"Backcountry snowboarder killed in avalanche north of Silverton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=36a58789-985f-5815-afdc-2767270c3e41&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"842\" height=\"630\" alt=\"An avalanche on a slope known as \u201cThe Nose\u201d between Ophir and Silverton killed a backcountry snowboarder Thursday. (Courtesy of Colorado Avalanche Information Center)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">An avalanche on a slope known as \u201cThe Nose\u201d between Ophir and Silverton killed a backcountry snowboarder Thursday. (Courtesy of Colorado Avalanche Information Center)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>A 41-year-old woman from Crested Butte was killed in an avalanche Thursday near Ophir Pass north of Silverton.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Steinwand was snowboarding a line known locally as \u201cThe Nose\u201d in the Mineral Creek drainage when she and her male partner were both caught in the slide. The male skier was able to ski out of the moving debris and avoid being buried.<\/p>\n<p>Staff members from the nearby Opus Hut noticed the avalanche and alerted search and rescue before they went to help the male skier extricate his partner.<\/p>\n<p>Silverton Medical Rescue and the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office responded a little after 1 p.m. to the scene west of U.S. Highway 550, about 5 miles south of Red Mountain Pass.<\/p>\n<p>Steinwand was dug out by her partner and two staff members from the hut before first responders arrived, but did not survive, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/avalanche.state.co.us\/report\/b55c4dae-46ca-4374-8c5b-8c84267ca692\" id=\"link-4daa535531464a6e370bdc1802a7a823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">initial report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday, the San Juan County Coroner confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Steinwand was the founder of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.treelinepr.com\" id=\"link-37b78e155a334c9ebf4d99e19cd492b8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public relations firm in Crested Butte. <\/a><\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=9a4d582b-3e55-5750-bf37-444f6650ef2e&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"921\" height=\"466\" alt=\"A backcountry snowboarder was killed Thursday by an avalanche near Ophir pass on a face known locally as \u201cThe Nose.\u201d\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A backcountry snowboarder was killed Thursday by an avalanche near Ophir pass on a face known locally as \u201cThe Nose.\u201d<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"naviga-map\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?q=37.840867991328%2C-107.77115254255&amp;z=15&amp;output=embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" style=\"border:0;\" allowfullscreen loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Map\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Twenty-seven team members responded to the incident from Silverton Medical Rescue, La Plata County Search &amp; Rescue, and the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office along with team members from Silverton Avalanche School, CAIC and Silverton Mountain, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Avalanche conditions have begun to settle following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/articles\/nearly-60-avalanches-reported-in-colorados-san-juan-mountains-during-valentines-day-storm\/\" id=\"link-4c323db35c1259992293cd889a85e027\" target=\"_blank\">a large natural cycle <\/a>that began after a significant storm deposited several feet of snow in the region last week.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=e6907612-644c-57d8-8915-558a31824ddf&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Initial photos of Thursday's fatal avalanche show a slide that broke near the top of the slope known locally as The Nose and slid most of the length of the face. (Courtesy of Colorado Avalanche Information Center)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Initial photos of Thursday's fatal avalanche show a slide that broke near the top of the slope known locally as The Nose and slid most of the length of the face. (Courtesy of Colorado Avalanche Information Center)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Kelsy Been \u2013 DNR<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=75fa55e1-74e8-5a92-afbb-3656adbbf5e1&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1440\" alt=\"Twenty-seven first responders from various agencies were dispatched to a fatal avalanche north of Silverton on Thursday. (Courtesy of Silverton Medical Rescue)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Twenty-seven first responders from various agencies were dispatched to a fatal avalanche north of Silverton on Thursday. (Courtesy of Silverton Medical Rescue)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The risk forecast by the CAIC dropped in that region from \u201cconsiderable\u201d above tree line and \u201cmoderate\u201d near and below tree line on Wednesday to \u201cmoderate\u201d at all elevations Thursday. Moderate <a href=\"https:\/\/avalanche.state.co.us\/forecasts\/tutorial\/danger-scale\" id=\"link-d5589b1717e86377d0269480d4ee01db\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">conditions are a hazard level two of five and mean<\/a> that natural avalanches are unlikely, but human-triggered avalanches are possible.<\/p>\n<p>The CAIC has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=shzqsWdd3bY&amp;t=17s\" id=\"link-be005e5161eba9fe3448af6806463c3d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warned that moderate conditions <\/a>does not mean the snowpack is safe \u2013 40% of avalanche fatalities in Colorado happen in moderate conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the recent quiet in the backcountry and a substantial reduction of human-triggered avalanches, it\u2019s easy to look to steeper lines with curiosity and eagerness,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/avalanche.state.co.us\/?lat=37.88107629526472&amp;lng=-107.75603014754172\" id=\"link-17c7bebfd118ae3ec4a2bab0a63501b8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thursday\u2019s forecast for the region<\/a> warned. \u201cIn times like these, thinking about mindset, risk, and decision-making in the backcountry is critical. Even if most avalanches have failed just beneath the new storm snow, that storm slab is deep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Nose is a sparsely treed slope near tree line. In 2021, four backcountry skiers were caught<a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/02\/03\/three-backcountry-skiers-killed-avalanche-identified-eagle\/\" id=\"link-04bc18b3d3a6c49a809d741f3cfede2e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> in an avalanche on the same face<\/a>, three of whom were killed.<\/p>\n<p>This is the second fatal avalanche in Colorado of the 2024-25 season. The first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/articles\/backcountry-skier-killed-in-avalanche-near-red-mountain-pass\/\" id=\"link-4369354ff1a1dd22fd0a31f873266924\" target=\"_blank\">occurred Jan. 7 <\/a>just north of Red Mountain Pass, when a 57-year old Ridgway man skiing alone was caught and killed in a slide. Nationally, 11 people have died in avalanches this winter.<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-82341235acc8aa286ca765a80f9f8508\"><a href=\"mailto:rschafir@durangoherald.com\">rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steinwand, of Crested Butte, was caught in a slide near Ophir Pass<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[377,28,1562,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-avalanche-landslide","tag-headlines","tag-san-juan-county-colorado","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23403","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=23403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78103,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23403\/revisions\/78103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23403"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}