The French snowbikes could lure winter travelers with a quieter, more sustainable option for scooting over snow. They’re a new challenge for land managers handling next-gen motorized travel.
Ethan Greene
Posted inOutdoors
How the Colorado Avalanche Information Center investigates fatal slides
Forecasters and snow scientists with the CAIC work with land managers, county sheriffs and search and rescue groups to compile detailed accounts of every fatal avalanche. Those reports are the cornerstones of avalanche education.
Posted inOutdoors
Two backcountry skiers killed in avalanche in southwestern Colorado
The experienced ski tourers were in the trees at about 8,400 feet. Rescuers also are looking for a snowmobiler swept away in Conejos County.
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Recent storms improved Colorado’s meager snowpack. But they also created extreme avalanche risk.
A storm packing up to 3 feet of snow is headed for parts of Colorado this weekend, building on massive amounts of recent snowfall that raised alarms over avalanche risk in the high country even as it helped ease drought concerns. It’s great news for Colorado’s snowpack. But for those wanting to explore the mountains […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Avalanche danger is climbing across Colorado’s high country
Heavy snowstorms that started last week have ratcheted up the avalanche danger in the Colorado mountains, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center warned. Nearly all of the Colorado high country was under “considerable” avalanche danger Monday, with only the Sangre de Cristo and Culebra mountain ranges on the eastern side of the San Luis Valley at […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider
Colorado’s 2020-21 avalanche season was tied for the deadliest. It’s helping forecasters hone warnings and outreach.
A once-in-a-decade layer of rotten snow in the mountains combined with unprecedented traffic in the backcountry made the 2020-21 avalanche season the deadliest in many years. The 37 deaths across the country — each a tragedy that will resonate for lifetimes — delivered lessons to avalanche forecasters and researchers, especially in Colorado, where 12 men […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Colorado snowboarders charged in backcountry avalanche settle criminal case, won’t have to pay $168,000 in restitution
Backcountry snowboarders Evan Hannibal and Tyler Dewitt will not have to pay $168,000 for damage that resulted when an avalanche they reported buried a service road above Interstate 70 in March 2020. The two also were facing misdemeanor charges related to the March 25 slide that damaged avalanche mitigation devices above the west portal of […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Outdoors
Avalanche center boss will testify in criminal case against Summit County snowboarders as judge rejects “chilling effect” argument
A Summit County judge has rejected the Colorado Attorney General’s argument that forcing the boss of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center to testify in a rare criminal case could have a chilling effect on the way backcountry travelers share avalanche observations with the agency. “I would really hope that the chilling effect that is being […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider
Avalanche investigators testifying in criminal case could have “chilling effect,” warns Colorado AG
Evan Hannibal happily handed over his helmet video of the avalanche that triggered below his snowboard and buried a service road above Interstate 70 last March. He hoped the Colorado Avalanche Information Center would use the video and his first-person account to help educate other skiers and snowboarders. Maybe the lessons he learned from his […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
Avalanche danger remains high in the West, 32 deaths confirmed this season
By Pat Graham, The Associated Press Snowboarder Maurice Kervin glided into the snow along the steep terrain in the Colorado backcountry like he’s done so many times. There was no warning for what happened next as he glanced over his shoulder: a rush of snow swiftly heading his way. Caught in an avalanche last month, […]