{"id":61526,"date":"2014-03-09T16:29:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T22:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-victims-experienced-in-endeavors\/"},"modified":"2014-03-09T22:29:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T22:29:48","slug":"avalanche-victims-experienced-in-endeavors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-victims-experienced-in-endeavors\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche victims experienced in endeavors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Avalanche
Avalanche technicians from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center work to excavate a snowmobile from under an estimated 12 feet of snow and debris left by an avalanche, which were found during the search for Robert Yates of Montezuma County. Yates has not been found and is presumed dead, according to a CAIC report.<\/span>Courtesy of Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Both men who died in avalanches last week in Southwest Colorado were described as highly experienced in their pursuits.<\/p>\n

Colin Sutton, 38, died Tuesday while conducting exploration and snow science research via helicopter just outside Wolf Creek Ski Area on Conejos Peak in the South San Juan Mountains. Wolf Creek had been working on a development plan with the San Juan National Forest, which granted permission to explore adjacent terrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time, Wolf Creek had applied for helicopter skiing permits in different areas,\u201d ski area owner Rosanne Pitcher said. \u201cWe try to stay in areas where the good snow is, and Conejos Peak is one of those. They were just kind of checking it out for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said a group of six skiers was on the mountain at the time of the avalanche, with a two-passenger helicopter in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sad thing that happened,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re just really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutton was member of the National Ski Patrol who was impassioned by the alpine environment, Pitcher said. He worked 12 years for the ski area as a highly accomplished mountain professional.<\/p>\n

He was trained in basic life support, CPR and was an outdoor emergency-care provider. He was a certified emergency medical technician, a Level III avalanche technician, and a state of Colorado Type I explosives permit possessor and the snow science director for Wolf Creek. Sutton also was a Colorado Rapid Avalanche deployment-qualified dog handler with his black Labrador, Boca.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe counted on him for a lot of our information,\u201d Pitcher said. \u201cHe was one of the best guys in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a news release, Sutton learned to ski at Wolf Creek at age 3. His enthusiasm for the mountains carried across the globe, Pitcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe followed the snow,\u201d she said. \u201cChile, Argentina \u2013 he couldn\u2019t be in the snow enough. He traveled the world just doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just one day after Sutton\u2019s death, five snowmobilers were caught in a massive avalanche on Sharkstooth Peak in the La Plata Mountains west of Durango. One of the five, Robert Yates, has not yet been found.<\/p>\n

The search for Yates, of Montezuma County, now is being treated as a recovery. His helmet and snowmobile were found buried under an estimated 12 feet of debris.<\/p>\n

Efforts have been deterred because of conditions and weather but will resume again this week.<\/p>\n

A CareFlight helicopter from Durango surveyed the area while a Blackhawk from Buckley Air Force Base shuttled eight people at a time to and from a location on Windy Gap to the site at 11,500 feet. There, search party members, avalanche technicians, canine units and more than 20 volunteers scoured the mountain slope, stopping only when conditions were deemed unsafe by experts from Colorado Avalanche Information Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to resume the search on Tuesday, weather permitting,\u201d Montezuma County Undersheriff Lynda Carter said Saturday. She said another Blackhawk, this time from the U.S. Army due to the nature of the search, will be employed, as well as more avalanche recovery-trained canine units from Summit County.<\/p>\n

According to a sheriff\u2019s report, the use of explosives may be necessary to alleviate remaining avalanche dangers. CAIC officials said a subsequent slide could deposit another 30 feet of debris to the existing debris pile, also an estimated 30 feet deep.<\/p>\n

Yates, in his mid-40s, a husband and father of one, was said to be an extremely accomplished snowmobiler and was helping dislodge another\u2019s machine from snow when the avalanche occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were all very experienced,\u201d Carter said about the group of riders Yates was with. \u201cExperts \u2013 these were all probably some of the top snowmobilers in the area. They were prepared. They had everything you should take out into the backcountry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter said March is notorious for snow instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this keeps people out of there until it\u2019s safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

bmathis@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

patroller and snowmobiler were skilled in backcountry travel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[377,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-61526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-avalanche-landslide","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61526","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=61526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61526"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=61526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}