20 March 2023
ASPEN, Colo. (KDVR) – A skier was killed in an avalanche outside Aspen Highlands, Colorado, on Sunday afternoon a day after authorities recovered the body of another avalanche victim, authorities said.
According to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, three skiers were caught in Sunday’s avalanche, which occurred in the Maroon Bowl area of Highland Peak, outside the ski boundary of Aspen Highlands. Two others were able to escape, and rescue teams were working to get them out of the area.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center said, “Maroon Bowl is a steep northwest-facing slope in the near treeline elevation band. The avalanche broke about 200 feet wide and ran approximately 5,000 vertical feet.”
No further details about the victim were immediately available.
Skier killed in avalanche outside town of Marble
On Friday, Joel Thomas Shute, 36, was buried in an avalanche southwest of the Colorado town of Marble in Upper Rapid Creek. His body was recovered Saturday.
He was with two other men who were rescued. One was taken out by helicopter and the other was able to dig himself out and was transported by ambulance.
Shute had been missing since Friday evening when the avalanche swept 2,400 feet (730 meters) down a mountainside as they were backcountry touring.
The avalanche was two to three feet (up to nearly 1 meter) deep where it began and up to 500 feet (150 meters) wide, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said. Rescue teams found the victim’s body buried in avalanche debris, the center said.
Recent storms have raised avalanche risks.
Nineteen people have been killed across the U.S. by avalanches so far this winter, including nine fatalities in Colorado. Avalanches in the winter of 2020-2021 killed 37 people nationwide, which was the most recorded by the avalanche center in records going back to 1950.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.