TELLURIDE, Colo — A Telluride Ski Patrol member was seriously injured at 9:20 a.m. on Saturday February 21st while conducting avalanche mitigation work on Gold Hill.
Telluride Times reports the 30-year veteran patroller is currently in a Grand Junction hospital for multiple surgeries after suffering a broken leg. Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman characterized the leg break as a “Lindsey Vonn” type injury. Lindsey Vonn suffered a complex tibia fracture complicated by compartment syndrome and required a six-hour surgery to rebuild the severely damaged leg and avoid amputation.
“We had a senior, 30-year-plus patroller get caught from above in a dangerous slide, and he is seriously hurt His leg is pretty shattered. This is an incredibly experienced patroller. It just goes to show how dangerous this can be and how much we put ourselves out there, especially with this new load (of snow from) this new storm.” -Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman
The patroller, who has only been identified as a male was preparing to set explosives in place when he triggered an avalanche:
“On Saturday, Feb. 21, a member of Telluride’s Ski Patrol was doing avalanche control work on Gold Hill, and while skiing to set the shots, a slide was inadvertently triggered. The patroller was not buried in the slide and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was transported to the local emergency room for evaluation and treatment.” -Telski spokesperson Nancy Clark
The mountain was open for operation at the time of the accident but the avalanche was triggered in a closed area of the mountain:
“We keep the public two ropes away from anywhere where (an) avalanche (can) drain, and since this was underneath Gold Hill, the portals would have remained closed while we’re still doing avalanche work out in this area. This is a known trouble spot. We know all about this particular spot and that just goes to show the fickleness of the beast and how dangerous this can be, no matter how experienced and how professional we are.” -Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman
The patrol member with two experienced ski patrol partners nearby. The slide was not triggered by explosives and was triggered high enough above the patroller to gather a significant amount of snow before hitting him from behind. The patroller was was partially buried in terrain was inaccessible for a standard toboggan. His partners dug him out after immediately getting more help.
“Where he was (called for) a complicated extrication rescue that required quite a few resources and some of our more specific tools in our toolkit. This required a portable toboggan called a ‘sked,’ which is difficult to use if you haven’t trained on them, or even if you have trained on them. It required some ropes and things of that nature.” -Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman
The patroller has already had at least one surgery and with more on the way. Healthcare benefits for ski patrol members was an issue during the negotiations with Telski that resulted in a strike that has kept resort operations limited for 13 days earlier this winter. Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman is hopeful that the assistance funds that were donated to Telluride Ski Patrol during the strike can help the patroller pay his medical expenses:
“This is an injury he’s going to live with for the rest of his life. I’m sure this will go above and beyond his insurance, and we’ll do our best to take care of him as much as we can with that assistance fund. We’ll support him in any way that he needs.” -Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association President Graham Hoffman
