One Week After Being Reported Missing, Avalanche Dogs Find The Body Of Missing Hiker Buried in Avalanche Debris Near St. Mary’s Glacier In Colorado
St. Mary’s Glacier, Colorado – A week after being reported missing, Todd Musselman, 50, was found buried in avalanche debris near St. Mary’s Lake in Colorado’s Front Range.
On Saturday, January 16, 2016, Musselman had gone on a solo hike/climb near St. Mary’s Glacier. When he did not return home by dinner time, he was reported missing. Despite deteriorating weather, Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office and Alpine Rescue began to search.
Responders spotted avalanche debris on St. Mary’s Lake. Some avalanche debris had broken through 20-inches of ice on the lake. Due to high avalanche danger and worsening weather, they returned on Sunday with Recco, dogs, and spot probing but were unsuccessful in their search efforts. When another storm cycle hit Colorado early in the week, the search was postponed until Saturday, January 23, 2016.
On January 23, an avalanche dog found Musselman buried in avalanche debris. It is thought that the victim was ascending a steep, east facing slope above St. Mary’s Lake on foot when his foot penetration unintentionally triggered the deadly avalanche.
Avalanche forecaster Scott Toepfer with the CAIC reports that the avalanche occurred at approximately 1 PM on an east aspect at approximately 11,000′ on a planar slope. The avalanche was 3 to 4 feet deep, 1200 feet wide, and 650 vertical feet long. It was a hard slab avalanche that stepped down into the old snow. It was rated a R3, D2.5 slide.
For more information on the avalanche, snowpits, and images, visit the CAIC’s accident report. Here is an excellent image of the avalanche.
We will try to update this post as more information becomes available.
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