{"id":36460,"date":"2023-01-04T09:36:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-danger-casts-deadly-shadow-across-colorado-backcountry\/"},"modified":"2023-01-04T16:36:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:36:44","slug":"avalanche-danger-casts-deadly-shadow-across-colorado-backcountry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-danger-casts-deadly-shadow-across-colorado-backcountry\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche danger casts deadly shadow across Colorado backcountry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A look across the crown face of an avalanche on Dec. 31, 2022, that killed a 22-year-old skier near Breckenridge ski resort. Nick Feinstein died after he was skiing with his father when the two were caught up in the slide. Andy Feinstein was able to dig out and call for help. (Summit County Sheriff's Office )<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Heavy and wet snow blanketing a weakened snowpack has spiked avalanche danger across Colorado\u2019s high country. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued a \u201cconsiderable\u201d avalanche warning \u2013 level 3 of 5 \u2013 across the state for Wednesday and Thursday, and two avalanche-related deaths have already occurred this season.<\/p>\n

Andy Feinstein, president of the University of Northern Colorado, and his son were skiing in the backcountry beyond the Breckenridge ski area on New Year\u2019s Eve when both were buried in an avalanche.<\/p>\n

Feinstein told the Greeley Tribune he was able to free himself from the snow and call 911 for help. Rescue teams found his son Nick, 22, dead at 3:11 p.m., according to a preliminary report from CAIC.<\/p>\n

This came after a Dec. 26 avalanche near Berthoud Pass caught four people and fully buried two in the snow, CAIC reported. A 44-year-old snowboarder \u2013 the father of the other three \u2013 was buried and killed in the steep Nitro Chute on the west side of Berthoud Pass. The CAIC risk level for that area on Dec. 26 was \u201cmoderate,\u201d level 2 of 5. (A backcountry skier was buried and killed the same area on the same day in 2020, marking the fourth fatality in a season that would eventually see 12 backcountry travelers killed in avalanches.)<\/p>\n

Avalanche risk is determined by the composition of the snowpack, which builds up in mountainous regions over long periods of time. When solid and strong snow is laid on top of sugary snow, or weaker snow with larger crystals, there\u2019s a greater likelihood of the snowpack\u2019s structure giving out and creating an avalanche, according to CAIC Deputy Director Brian Lazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh,\u201d or level 4, risk means that avalanches are very likely and can occur without being triggered by human activity. Lazar said Tuesday afternoon that the combination of a weaker snowpack from previous months and a high volume of snowfall over the holidays led to the recent increase in avalanche risk. Too often, this is a recipe for disasters like the ones in late December, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it was more rare than it is,\u201d Lazar said. \u201cWhen we see dangerous avalanche conditions occurring over holiday periods, we do our best to try to warn people, but it\u2019s not uncommon for avalanche accidents to happen when those two events coincide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through mid-January, however, Coloradans in the high country can expect weaker snowfall than recent levels, according to Matthew Aleksa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Grand Junction.<\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking up at the avalanche crown above the Nitro Chute cliffs on Berthoud Pass. The Dec. 26, 2022, avalanche killed a 44-year-old snowboarder. (Colorado Avalanche Information Center)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An atmospheric river event, or a corridor of concentrated moisture, is projected to drop about 3 to 6 inches of wet snow in the mountains around Friday, he said, but afterward Colorado could see a break from heavy snowfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a wet winter snow, just because of the moisture and the milder temperatures,\u201d Aleksa said Tuesday. \u201cBut looking ahead, it does not really appear like there\u2019s anything significant on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazar\u2019s advice for those looking to traverse the backcountry this season is threefold.<\/p>\n

First, he recommends checking the CAIC website (avalanche.state.co.us) which publishes daily 48-hour forecasts, following their social media for regular updates and downloading their mobile app. Secondly, those planning backcountry travel must go out in groups and carry the minimum required rescue equipment: an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and a probe. Finally, he recommends taking a recreational avalanche training course to learn proper rescue gear use and how to plan safer outings in risky areas.<\/p>\n

Lazar said people can expect avalanche risk to ease a bit over the next week as snowfall decreases and the snowpack adjusts to somewhat drier conditions. But that\u2019s all CAIC can predict for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we get beyond a week, it is a little bit of just speculation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all going to depend on the weather events that roll through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/div>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

died in slides in December; avalanche risk remains \u2018considerable\u2019 after storms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[377,233,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-avalanche-landslide","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36460","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=36460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36460"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}