Skier killed in avalanche outside of Aspen Snowmass boundary
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- Created on Wednesday, 23 February 2011 11:19
- Written by Nathan
By SCOTT CONDON, ASPEN TIMES
A 25-year-old skier was killed in an avalanche Tuesday outside of the Snowmass Ski Area boundary, Pitkin County Sheriff's Office Patrol Director Ann Stephenson said.
The victim was skiing with two male companions in a chute on the backside of the Sneaky's portion of the Big Burn at Snowmass when the slide occurred, Stephenson said. They were following proper backcountry protocol by having one person ski down at a time. The first skier had reached a safe point when the victim skied down and triggered the slide, she said.
“The companion had been located by the two witnesses and was reported to be deceased,” the sheriff's office said in a press release.
The two other men were not caught in the slide and were uninjured. They exited the area and notified the Snowmass Ski Patrol about the accident. The ski patrol reported the incident to the sheriff's office at 4:06 p.m. Stephenson said she didn't know when the slide happened.
The recovery of the body was delayed until today because of the lateness of the report and concern for the safety of the rescuers, the sheriff's office said. The recovery of the man's body will be undertaken by Mountain Rescue Aspen with the assistance of the Snowmass Ski Patrol and Brian McCall, a forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
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