At least two people were killed in avalanches in Colorado over the weekend, bringing the death toll during the current season to nine.
The deaths occurred in two separate incidents.
According to the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, a 36-year-old man was killed after he was buried by more than four feet of snow in Rapid Creek on Friday evening. His body was recovered on Saturday. He was later identified as Joel Thomas Shute.
Two others were injured in the avalanche and needed medical treatment.
The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said another person was killed on Sunday afternoon in a “large avalanche” near a ski resort in Aspen. Two others were trapped by the avalanche but were able to free themselves, though one needed to be airlifted back down the mountain.
The three were reportedly just outside the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort’s ski boundary.
Another seven people were involved in other avalanches over the weekend. Two occurred at Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday and Sunday and one on Red Mountain Pass in southwestern Colorado that caught two different groups. No injuries were reported in any of those avalanches.
The weekend’s deaths added to the 2022-23 season’s avalanche-related deaths, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
An average of 21 people per year have died in avalanche-related deaths over the last 10 winters, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The American West has been inundated with storms recently, raising the risk of avalanches. Similarly, lower altitude areas have seen increased floods, including a slot canyon flood in Utah that killed two.