Avalanche Fully Buries and Kills Snowmobiler East Of Wolf Creek Pass In The San Juan Mountains of Colorado | Group Did NOT Have Shovels
Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado – At approximately 4 PM, on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 an avalanche fully buried and killed David Smith, 23 of Kimball, South Dakota. Another rider in the same group was partially buried in the avalanche.
The group consisted of four snowmobilers who left the Tucker Ponds trailhead east of Wolf Creek Pass to ride in the Lost Mine Creek Drainage between Campo Molino and Park Creek in the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. One member of the group unintentionally triggered an avalanche at 9500′ while stuck in a gully that caught two of the riders.
The avalanche partially buried one rider and fully buried a second rider in a terrain trap. Two riders left the scene of the avalanche to find cell coverage. They called 911 at around 6 PM. According to the DenverPost.com, the CBAC Facebook page, and the CAIC Southern San Juans, the riders did not have shovels.
Search and rescue responded and included local riders, Wolf Creek Ski Patrol, and Mineral and Rio Grand Country Sheriff’s Offices.
The CAIC’s Southern San Juan’s avalanche forecast for February 2, 2016 rated the avalanche danger at all elevations as “High”. See image below.
Few other details are available at this time. The CAIC will visit the scene on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.
We will try to update this post as more information becomes available.
___________________________________
Read more about the avalanche fatality near Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado from these sources:
- CAIC Avalanche Accident Report
- Avalanche.org Avalanche Accident Report
- Map of Avalanche Location
- CAIC’s Southern San Juan Avalanche Forecast
- DenverPost.com
- CBAC Facebook Page
_________________________________________________________
This is the third avalanche fatality in Colorado and the 17th avalanche fatality in the US during the 2015/2016 winter season.
- 1/21/2016 – Snowmobiler Dies In Avalanche In Ruby Range West Of Crested Butte, Colorado
- 1/16/2016 – Climber Killed In Avalanche At St. Mary’s Glacier, Colorado
