Avalanche — Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado
January 5, 2019 · NOAA Storm Events record
Event narrative (NOAA)
A group of back country skiers participating in an avalanche safety course triggered an avalanche on the afternoon of January 5. All six members of the group were caught in the avalanche. The avalanche released a second avalanche sympathetically. The second avalanche ran over the debris pile of the first slide. One member of the group was buried in the debris of the two avalanches. The rest of the group located him and extricated him from under at least 8 feet of snow. They tried to revive him on site, but were unsuccessful. The rest of the group made their way to Highway 550 with the help of San Juan County Search and Rescue, Ouray Mountain Rescue, La Plata County Search and Rescue, Careflight, and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
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Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.