A backcountry skier was caught, fully buried and killed by an avalanche in Colorado on Friday afternoon, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The avalanche occurred near Cameron Pass — at 10,500 feet on the southeast portion of South Diamond Peak — and was "one to three feet below the snow surface and was about 250 feet wide."
“The victim’s partner was able to locate him with a transceiver and probe pole and extricate him from the snow, but he did not survive,” the CAIC said in the official incident report.
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After heavy snowfall in the mountains on Thursday and into Friday morning, the avalanche reportedly broke on a layer of "faceted snow" around 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.
The skier's body was located and recovered after dark on Friday evening, and his name has not yet been released.
The fatality was the first avalanche death in Colorado this snow season.
A backcountry skier also died on Diamond Peak in a nearby area during a Dec. 2019 avalanche near the pass, which is about 60 miles up Colorado Highway 14 from U.S. Highway 287.
Many parts of the Colorado high country are under avalanche watches or warnings. The area around Cameron Pass and Diamond Peak remains under an Avalanche Watch until at least 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26.
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