She said complacency is the enemy when it comes to accidents in the backcountry.
"Thinking just because you have experience and you have training and you have safety equipment, that you go and ski anywhere you want," she said. "That’s a concern.”
DeBattiste and the team of about 65 volunteers responded to their first call of the season on Dec. 21.
“A couple of snowmobilers came upon a slide up near Elliot’s Ridge, and at the toe of the slide was a mangled snowmobile," DeBattiste said. “It looked like there might be someone buried in that avalanche.”
A 911 call triggered a full response to the area south of Kremmling. DeBattiste said Summit County Rescue Group sent 22 volunteers. There was a medical helicopter in the air and search dogs were ready to be deployed, but DeBattiste said the call was a false alarm.