Two backcountry tourers along the ridgeline on Peak 1 in the Tenmile Range near Frisco, Colorado remotely triggered an avalanche and the special operations technicians from Summit County Sheriff’s Office caught it on a live video stream:
“Peak 1 Avalanche. Our Special Operations Technicians captured this video of a remotely triggered avalanche on a north east aspect of Peak 1 this morning above Frisco. No one was caught or injured. The avalanche danger remains considerable in Summit County, with a special avalanche advisory in effect through the weekend. Proper knowledge and terrain choice are critical for safe travel.” –Summit County Sheriff’s Office
Avalanche danger remains high this weekend throughout Colorado where a Special Avalanche Advisory is in effect. CAIC warns large and dangerous avalanches can be easily trigger from long distances away. Please be aware of steep slopes above you and other people nearby. Read the CAIC’s statement about the Special Avalanche Advisory below:
Colorado Avalanche Information Center – CAIC:
There is a Special Avalanche Advisory in effect this weekend. Backcountry avalanche conditions are dangerous in most of Colorado’s mountains. You can easily trigger an avalanche large enough to injure or kill you on many steep slopes. Avalanches are being triggered from hundreds of feet away. They could pull back onto low-angled terrain. Slides are running long distances. While there are plenty of avalanches to observe, the snowpack may not give you obvious signs of instability like shooting cracks or rumbling whumpfs before an avalanche releases. The lack of warning signs can lead to false confidence and lure you closer to steep terrain. Pay attention to steep slopes above you, even if you are in gentle or flat terrain. It is important to avoid big, obvious avalanche paths, but steep slopes above trails could also avalanche.
Safer backcountry travel this weekend means giving most slopes steeper than about 30 degrees a wide berth. This holds true especially when we are dealing with remote triggered avalanches. It is important to be aware of where other backcountry travelers are in relation to your group and to the surrounding avalanche terrain. The photos are during and after an avalanche near the Eisenhower Tunnel on December 31. Riders on the sunny, low-angled slope above triggered the slide while another party was digging a profile nearby, on the right side of the image.
Backcountry travelers are describing conditions with terms like “sketchy,” “surprising,” or “scary.” So far, folks in Colorado have had only minor encounters and close calls with avalanches. Observations Friday afternoon added more close calls and another ten remotely triggered avalanches. Recent avalanche deaths in Utah and Nevada have also occurred in areas with unusually touchy weak layers and are a grim reminder of the consequences bad luck and a few choices can make. The dangerous conditions are here to stay and with that we need our patience and vigilance to remain equally steadfast.
