A backcountry snowboarder killed Monday in the San Juan Mountains marked the Colorado’s first avalanche death of the season.
Dr. Peter Harrelson, 67, died after he was caught in an avalanche triggered in the Waterfall Creek area near Ophir, a small mountain town 13 miles south of Telluride, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office. Harrelson was a longtime resident of Ophir.
Harrelson’s friends and family followed his tracks Monday night after reporting him overdue, but were unable to find him, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said in a preliminary report.
San Miguel County deputies and search and rescue teams began looking for Harrelson on Monday night and continued their search Tuesday morning. The search required avalanche mitigation before teams could scour the area for him, the sheriff’s office said.
Harrelson’s body was found Tuesday morning with traumatic injuries from an avalanche, according to the sheriff’s office.
The avalanche happened on a northwest-facing peak below treeline, CAIC said.
The avalanche carried Harrelson 200 to 300 feet before it stopped and he dug himself free, San Miguel County Coroner Emil Sante said according to The Montrose Daily Press. Harrelson then hiked another 200 to 300 feet before lying down under some trees and dying, the newspaper reported.
“I’m not sure if anyone loved Ophir, Colorado, more than Peter did. She was his one true love,” Sante wrote in the death notification, the newspaper reported. “Peter was one of the most avid backcountry skiers in the valley. There are so many stories that one can tell about Peter Harrelson, and they are all told with a smile on your face; he will be missed.”
Most of Colorado’s mountains are still facing a considerable risk of avalanche danger, CAIC said, warning that natural and human-triggered avalanches are still being reported on slopes with 30- to 35-degree steepness.
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While east-facing peaks are currently the most dangerous, avalanches have been reported in almost every direction and elevation, CAIC said. Open areas below the treeline are equally as dangerous as higher elevation.
The town of Ophir, which sits in a valley, is surrounded by six avalanche paths. Two thirteeners, Lookout Peak and Yellow Mountain, border the old mining town.
It’s not uncommon for people to watch avalanches from the town and YouTube is filled with Ophir avalanche videos, including one from when helicopters were sent up to do avalanche control last January before crews began to clear snow and debris that crossed the road in Ophir as the result of a natural slide.