Avalanche kills five snowboarders in Colorado, sheriff says

Alpine Rescue Team member Dale Atkins crossed Highway 6 near the scene of the deadly avalanche Saturday night on Loveland Pass in Colorado. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

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GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Five snowboarders were killed Saturday afternoon after apparently triggering a backcountry avalanche on Colorado’s Loveland Pass, authorities said.

Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies several hours after the slide, which was about 600 feet wide and eight feet deep, said Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger.

A sixth snowboarder caught in the avalanche was able to dig himself out and call for help, Krueger said. That person’s condition wasn’t immediately known.

The victims all had avalanche beacons, Krueger added.

Searchers from Clear Creek County, Summit County, an alpine search and rescue team and the Loveland and Arapahoe Basin ski resorts located the bodies, Krueger said.

 

The Colorado Department of Transportation closed U.S. 6, which crosses the Continental Divide near the scene of the avalanche, to facilitate the search. The pass is heavily traveled by skiers visiting nearby Arapahoe Basin ski resort.

The bodies were taken to the Clear Creek coroner’s office. The victims’ identities weren’t immediately released.

Related articles

• Sheriff: Five snowboarders killed in Colorado avalanche (cbssports.com)
• Snowboarders Killed In Avalanche Identified (denver.cbslocal.com)
• 5 Killed In Avalanche On Loveland Pass, 1 Survivor (krextv.com)
• 5 snowboarders killed in Colorado avalanche (troyrecord.com)
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Extreme Weather – Spain, Province of Huesca,, [Panticosa area (Spanish Pyrenees)]

Earth Watch  –  Extreme Weather

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03.01.2013

Extreme Weather

Spain

Province of Huesca,, [Panticosa area (Spanish Pyrenees)]

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Extreme Weather in Spain on Thursday, 03 January, 2013 at 15:17 (03:17 PM) UTC.

Description

Rescuers have evacuated the last of 1200 skiers trapped by strong winds a day earlier on the slopes of a resort in the Spanish Pyrenees. Winds gusting up to 110km/h forced the Panticosa ski resort to stop the ski-lifts on Wednesday afternoon, stranding holidaymakers on the mountain. “At 9.29am (1929 AEDT) the evacuation of skiers at the Panticosa ski resort was ended after the arrival at the cable-car base of the last group that was being transferred,” said Aramon, a group managing most of the ski resorts in the northern Aragon region. “There have been no notable incidents apart from understandable tiredness after hours of waiting,” it said in a statement on Thursday. During the night, Spanish police, rescuers and resort staff worked to bring down skiers stranded in a cafeteria high up in the resort since the ski-lifts stopped at 3pm, they said. Skiers were taken down in small groups in snow grooming machines to a more accessible area below the snowline and then transported in all-terrain vehicles to the town of Hoz de Jaca and finally to the Panticosa resort base. Some of the more expert skiers were able to ski down. The resort was closed on Thursday to check its installations following the bad weather.

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Related articles

• Rescuers evacuate 1200 skiers in Spain (bigpondnews.com)
• Rescuers evacuate 1,200 skiers from Spain resort (terradaily.com)
• Rescuers evacuate 1200 skiers in Spain (news.com.au)
• Extreme Weather – Europe – Spain (hisz.rsoe.hu)