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Pro snowboarder Meesh Hytner survived this substantial slide in the Deer Creek drainage near Montezuma last week, thanks to her avalanche airbag. The avalanche was one of 17 recorded by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in the past nine days, which included a partial burial on Loveland Pass. Ben Koelker, Colorado Avalanche Information Center
When I saw this video of Meesh Hytner riding her way through the avalanche near Montezuma, I was stunned. Wow! It's really coming down and she makes it through. You can see her airbag deploy and it appears to help her stay above the mass of snow.
We've written about avalanche safety before, but it prompted us to think about updating the information we share here at Out There Colorado.
So, Out There reporter Scott Rappold is joining an avalanche safety class this week, and he'll be reporting for the site and an upcoming Out There section in The Gazette.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says the danger of an avalanche remains "considerable" across much of the state.
From the CAIC: "... triggering large, dangerous avalanches remains likely on many slopes. These avalanches can be triggered remotely from low angle terrain well below starting zones. You may not get any warning, like cracks or collapses, before the slabs rip out and come crashing down."
Yikes!
Be careful out there.
Here's a related report by Janice Kurbjum of the Summit Daily News from this week:
When professional snowboarder Meesh Hytner pulled the cord on her avalanche airbag last week, she was already in the midst of a substantial slide on the northeast face of the Deer Creek headwall near Montezuma.
The slide was one of 17 natural and human-triggered avalanches recorded throughout last week and into the early part of this week in the Vail and Summit Zone, according to Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
On Sunday, Summit County Rescue Group responded to a partial burial on the south side of Loveland Pass in an area known as No Name, rescue group official Joe Ben Slivka said.
“He took a pretty good ride,” Slivka said of the victim. That particular slide ripped across a good portion of its potential path and was rated a 2.5 on the destructive potential scale.
Meanwhile, the slide Hytner survived was classified a 2 on both the destructive potential and the mass of the flowing snow. The CAIC report indicated Hytner and other riders were conducting an informal snowboarding competition.
The meaning behind avalanche rating systems can vary between observation systems and geographic regions, but Slivka said a 2 on the destructive scale is a force to be reckoned with in Colorado.
“We're starting to see areas sliding that aren't typical slide paths,” he said.
Read Kurbjun's full story about "scary" conditions in the backcountry.
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