A backcountry skier was caught and killed Sunday in an avalanche southwest of Crested Butte, according to a preliminary report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The skier was caught in an area of the Anthracite Range, known as the Playground, which is east of Ohio Peak, the report said. Three of the skier’s friends were able to extricate him from the avalanche debris, but he died from injuries sustained in the slide.
Members from the CAIC will visit the accident site Monday and provide more information, the report said. The skier’s name and hometown had not been released as of Monday afternoon.
Gunnison County dispatchers received a call about 2:25 p.m. about the skier who was badly injured in an avalanche, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. After the skier’s friends dug him out, Crested Butte and Western search and rescue teams provided life-saving efforts, but the skier died on the scene.
The skier’s body was airlifted from the area, the sheriff’s office said.
The man’s death is at least the second avalanche death in Colorado this season. Last month, a 67-year-old backcountry snowboarder died after he was caught in an avalanche triggered in the Waterfall Creek area near Ophir, a small mountain town south of Telluride.
Eleven people were killed in avalanches last winter in Colorado and seven in the 2021-22 season.
Considerable avalanche danger remains in many areas near treeline in Colorado’s backcountry. The CAIC issues daily avalanche forecasts, which can be viewed on the agency’s website.