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Forest Service says avalanches 'just waiting for a trigger' |
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012 19:51 |
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THE DENVER POST
The U.S. Forest Service today issued a "strong warning" to use extreme caution in the Colorado high country, because exceptionally weak snowpacks and high winds have escalated avalanche danger.
Avalanches have killed four people in Colorado since last Wednesday.
"Current conditions have provided the perfect squall for avalanches throughout the Rockies," stated Kelly Elder, supervisory research hydrologist for the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins. "The shallow snowpack forms weak snow layers and when a snowstorm or wind deposits a new load on top of this weak snowpack, things move and avalanches occur."
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Boulder rated the danger as considerable on nearly all of state's mountains from Durango to Steamboat Springs.
"We are very concerned about the conditions as well as the rate of accidents so far this year," Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said in a statement.
Three of the four deaths have occurred out-of-bounds from ski area.
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