An avalanche Saturday about 6 miles north of Colorado’s Steamboat and Flat Tops backcountry killed a snowmobiler after a persistent weak layer of snow gave way, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said.
The slide occurred about 2 p.m. Saturday at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Encampment River Wilderness near Willow Park, Wyoming. The snowmobile triggered the slide on the northeast-facing slope, CAIC said.
The avalanche center compared the conditions to those that have caused avalanches in Western Colorado.
“It looks like the same persistent weak layer we are dealing with in Colorado,” CAIC said.
The avalanche center also reported a backcountry snow slide above treeline in the Commodore Basin area of Red Mountain Pass on Sunday. And CAIC observed evidence of five naturally occurring slides in the Camp Creek/Sheep Mountain area near Lizard Head in the southern San Juan Mountains on March 10-12.
CAIC reported Monday that the risk of avalanche in the northern and southern San Juans was “moderate,” or Level 2 on a five-point scale that ranges from “low” to “extreme.”
Avalanches have killed 12 people in the U.S. this season – four in Colorado, four in Montana, two in Idaho and one each in Wyoming and Washington. Six of the fatalities were snowmobilers, three were hikers and three were skiers.
