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.
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Photo from Summit County Rescue Group
Summit County emergency services launched a full-scale rescue mission to save an individual buried by an avalanche Monday afternoon only to realize the man had made it out safely a day earlier.
At about 2:20 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21, Summit County Rescue Group was notified of an avalanche in the area of Elliot’s Ridge southwest of Heeney. The caller noticed that the avalanche had partially buried a snowmobile, and their avalanche transceiver had picked up a distant signal in the area.
Emergency workers responded in force. The Summit County Rescue Group rounded up 23 volunteers with snowmobiles who rushed to the scene alongside two deputies with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and a paramedic with Summit Fire & EMS. Flight for Life also picked up a dog team from Arapahoe Basin Ski Area to deliver them to the avalanche site, and two additional dog teams were alerted from Breckenridge Ski Resort and Beaver Creek Resort.