A beloved Steamboat Springs local was killed in an avalanche in the Fish Creek drainage northeast of town.
Drew Hyde, 49, was skiing with a friend above the North Fork of Fish Creek on a heavily treed slope when a small avalanche released Saturday afternoon. He was swept into trees and “came to rest against a tree,” the preliminary report by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center reads.
Hyde was not breathing when his friend reached him. His friend performed CPR for an hour before members of Routt County Search and Rescue arrived along with a helicopter from nearby Classic Air Medical. The helicopter evacuated the surviving skier on Saturday. Rescuers were working to retrieve the body.
Avalanche experts from CAIC were planning to visit the accident site on Sunday to prepare a more in-depth report.
Hyde was from Massachusetts but lived in Steamboat Springs for decades. An avid paddler, angler and skier, his passion for rivers and mountains wove strong bonds with a vast network of friends.
Two backcountry travelers have died in avalanches in Colorado in the last three days. Telluride’s Devin Overton was found Thursday in avalanche debris on a remote slope southwest of Ophir. Guides with helicopter skiing outfit Helitrax spotted Overton’s tracks heading into the slide path but they did not see exit tracks and searched the debris field, finding the 29-year-old using their avalanche transceivers.
Saturday’s fatality marks the sixth avalanche death in Colorado this season, which includes three snowshoers. Last year tied a record with 12 avalanche deaths in Colorado.