Last season, a total of 23 people lost their lives in avalanches.
Since Jan. 29, 2021 in Colorado alone, more than 500 avalanches have been reported to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). Of those, two were fatal.
The first fatal avalanche in 2021 in Colorado happened Feb. 1 southeast of Ophir, in an area known as The Nose, according to CAIC. Four backcountry skiers were caught, and one was rescued. The three other men all Eagle County government officials were buried under nine, 11, and 20 feet of snow, according to a CAIC report. Their bodies were recovered on Feb. 4. The men were identified as Seth Bossung (energy efficiency project manager for Eagle County), Andy Jessen (Mayor Pro Tem for the Town of Eagle) and Adam Palmer (sustainable communities director for Eagle County).
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Last week’s grim death total was the most in a seven-day period since March 1910, when an avalanche swept away two trains in Wellington, Wash., and killed 96 people.
On Saturday, four skiers were killed in the backcountry of Utah’s Millcreek Canyon, and four others were injured in a skier-triggered avalanche that occurred at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. The fatalities tied for the highest-known death toll for an avalanche in Utah. An avalanche near Moab’s Gold Basin killed four people in 1992.
In Colorado, more than 500 avalanches have been reported since Jan. 30. One skier was killed on Thursday while skiing in Colorado’s East Vail Chutes. On Feb. 1, four backcountry skiers were buried southeast of Ophir, in an area known as The Nose. Three men were killed and one was rescued.
In backcountry areas across the United States, from Alaska to Colorado to New Hampshire, hundreds of avalanches rumbled down mountains in early February, ending in the most deadly week for avalanches in more than a century.
Last Saturday, 49-year-old Adam Palmer of Eagle updated his Facebook profile photo to an image of him and a group of his ski buddies. They’re suited up and striding along