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Subscribe to RSSDENVER -- A backcountry skier was killed and another critically injured in a weekend avalanche they apparently triggered on a northern Colorado mountain pass, a day after three other people died in snowslides across the country, authorities said on Sunday.
The two men in Colorado were cross-country skiing Saturday on the western side of Cameron Pass, about 135 miles northwest of Denver, when they were buried in the avalanche, said Kent Minor, manager of State Forest State Park.
"There were two sets of ski tracks going in, so the assumption is they caused the avalanche," Minor said, adding that the slab of snow and ice that broke loose was 300 to 400 yards long.
The two skiers were outfitted with avalanche-locator beacons, and rescuers on snowmobiles reached them late Saturday afternoon after battling through deep snow and steep, rugged terrain, he said.
The first skier they reached was found dead, and rescuers then dug out the second man, who had been buried for 90 minutes, Minor said. Neither victim has been identified.
Minor said it took rescuers on snowmobiles, snowshoes and snow sleds more than five hours to get the injured man to a spot where a helicopter could land and airlift him to the hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.
Crews returned to the area on Sunday morning to retrieve the body of the dead skier, Minor said. A dog that accompanied the pair has not been located, he said.
Scott Toepfer, a forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said Saturday's incident was the fourth avalanche-related death in Colorado this season and the 13th nationwide.
Toepfer said the Colorado fatality brought to four the number of U.S. avalanche deaths so far in March, including a snowmobiler in Utah, a skier in Wyoming and a climber in New Hampshire who were all killed in separate snowslides on Friday.
In a typical year, 25 people in the United States perish in avalanches, he said.
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another global warming tragedy !
No, you didn't!
It's Gore's fault.
There is no global warming! This is all with in climate variation the only global warming or climate change is in the heads of reports selling news. Contrary to the IPPC report, a new studies have shown that solar variation impacts the earth climate. A new workshop through the National Academy of Science, "The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate: A Workshop Report". We are in one of the weakest solar cycles and indications are that still weaker cycles are ahead. The result colder is weather.
review N.E. Lorenz Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow, 1963. His work showed that the climates
set of deterministic equations can become non-deterministic or chaotic and hence there is no deterministic solution. The climate change crowd is using statics to calibrate there climate
models. I cannot find any mathematical proof that a non-deterministic model can be calibrated by statically methods. “Climate change” has bet there hat on something that cannot be mathematically proven therefore are we to “bet the farm on someone guess”????
Science is not gospel it is not the final truth it is simply what we know now. We do not know as much as we think we do. Mankind is not the source of changing weather it happens all the time due to forces we cannot image nor control.
Not exactly please see
“The ocean and ocean life control the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and they dominate earth's carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. By absorbing infrared radiation (energy) from the earth's surface, it helps keep the surface warm. The amount of carbon dioxide in the
air is increasing, partly because we burn fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil. The increasing amounts of carbon dioxide are causing earth to slowly warm up. To understand the warming, we must understand how the ocean controls earth's carbon cycle.
1. Most of the available carbon is in the ocean. The ocean holds 50 times more carbon than the
atmosphere.
2. About half of earth's primary production, the conversion of water, carbon dioxide, sunlight, and
inorganic nutrients into oxygen and hydrocarbons, occurs in the ocean. Primary producers in the ocean are the phytoplankton. They also produce oxygen as a by product of this reaction.
2a. When the phytoplankton die and decay, or when they are eaten, the hydrocarbons are converted back to carbon dioxide, using up all the oxygen produced by the phytoplankton.
2b. But, sometimes phytoplankton and other life in the sea die and sink to the sea floor before they can decay. When they are buried in the sediments, they leave behind the oxygen produced by the hytoplankton. Over millions of years this produced the oxygen in the atmosphere. It also produced the oil, gas, and coal we now use to make electricity, heat our homes, and run our cars and trucks. We call this process the biological pump that takes carbon dioxide out of the air.
3. Almost exactly half of the carbon dioxide put into the air by our burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean. Carbon dioxide dissolves in cold water near the Arctic and Antarctic. When the cold water sinks deep into the ocean in winter, it carries the carbon dioxide away from the atmosphere. Many years later, the water is gradually pulled closer to the sea surface by mixing in the ocean. When it gets to the surface in warm areas it releases the carbon dioxide back to the air. This process allows the ocean to store great quantities of carbon dioxide for many centuries. We call this the physical pump that takes carbon dioxide out of the air.
4. The biosphere expands and contracts on a 450,000 year cycle in response to changes in insolation (incoming sunlight at different latitudes). The long period is due to long-term storage of carbon in the ocean and the dissolving of carbonate on the sea floor. Palike (2006). “
There are ways to resuscitate people who have been 'dead' for longer than ninety minutes, especially in conditions where the body has been kept cold.
I think it's the South Koreans who have developed a technique to remove the blood and oxygenate it while the patient is kept on a heart-lung machine. CPR is old technology.
R738279--Wait a second! Do you even read what you have written? In your first post you write: "There is no global warming!". In your second post:"The increasing amounts of carbon dioxide are causing earth to slowly warm up. To understand the warming, we must understand how..." you go on to explain why global warming is occurring. You need to make up your mind before we believe your pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo, because you are contradicting reams of scientific studies saying just the opposite.
In the 1960's the tobacco industries produced tons of doctors and scientists who said essentially, smoking does NOT cause cancer. Oh, the studies were flawed, bad conclusions, they said. I guess it just proves that, indeed, opinions are like @!$%#s, everybody has one... It's just a matter of whom you are going to believe.
Bluelake, there is no man-made global warming or climate change it is caused by natural forces beyond our control.
If there is no global warming going on than explain where all the ice is going in the Polar areas of the north and why Anartica is shrinking? Even Scientist themselves are devided on the reasons.
R-738279--Again! Go back and read what you have posted! "The amount of carbon dioxide in the
air is increasing, partly because we burn fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil".
Your above statement is horse@!$%#! It is the official line of every carbon burning industry in the world. All the oil companies, all the coal mine owners, all the drillers and exploiters. For the past 200 years the human industrial revolution has pumped TRILLIONS of tons of carbon dioxide into the closed system of earth's atmosphere. And now Asia and especially China are undergoing rapid industrialization and pouring even more carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Have you not seen the amazing pollution problems they are having in Beijing? It is only going to get worse. If you think that human activity is NOT contributing to global climate change, you are a fool or a Koch brothers stooge. Is it causing climate change? That can be debated. But as to the fact that human activity is directly affecting and intensifying that climate change? Patently!!
"How dare we believe that man can affect our climate, only God can do that." Rick Santorum
6Dogs, that is a very good question. The best indication is in 1990 the number of sun spots at solar maximum peaked. Since then, the number of sun spots at solar has been decreasing. In this solar cycle it may be less than 100. The reason that this is important is the number of sun spots is related to the amount of energy being produce by the sun, thus how much energy is reaching the earth. Solar out put is not constant and small changes affect the climate of the earth, please see my first post. We may be approaching a period of solar activity that matches that of the Little Ice Age in the northern hemisphere... May be time to invest in long handles... Just saying ....
Just keep stretching for those "other" reasons. Just keep shoveling the @!$%# R-738279. Just keep ignoring reality. After sun spots, what? The alignment of the planets? Evil demons from the pit of hell? I give up, I have to go to work.
Bluelake, One thing to keep in mind with regards to science; there is no final truth there is only what we know now. Anyone who can only use expetive in stead of questions or other research reference may not understand anything except to regurgiate the lessons learned in brainwashing school. I can supply references on my information. As for your retorts I need none, I know where they come from sir.
@Bluelake
While "man" might be responsible for a miniscule amount of "global warming", (I do find it interesting that now it's called "climate change"), what caused the glacial and inter-glacial warming and cooling periods BEFORE man slithered out of the primordial ooze that spawned us?
I have to agree with R-738279 in at least one area. For all we claim to know, we actually know abysmally little about this planet we call Earth. We THINK we know, we PROCLAIM to know, but all that does is assuage our collective egos and allow us to believe we really do know when the opposite is the truth.
DXm9mm (nice piece by the way) God playing dice with the universe? Or, he set his rules in motion and is watching the outcome while we try to catch up.... I am always concerned when money is involved with the "Truth".
I think that the idea of global warming has turned peoples' heads to mush. Folks, it's an AVALANCHE!!. Nothing more.
Intresting story. I didn't realize that many people died in avalanches.
OK, before I get it from the smart ones. It's interesting. Sorry Mr. Brockalie.
It seems pretty amazing that they were able to get to those guys so quickly! After only an hour and a half I mean. I don't know exactly how those avalanche locators work but they must notify someone after the beacon is inactive for a few minutes. Whoever invented it should be given a medal, because if those guys were not wearing those they would NOT have been found until at least spring, but since they were wearing them, they were found within 90 minutes! Great work on the rescuers part.
One of the two would have had to PRESS THE ACTIVATION BUTTON for the locator to activate.
I do not believe the beacon puts out an "SOS" for miles for them to be located.
I believe another party happened to come on by and noticed tracks GOING INTO the slide area and then THEY began a search,turned on their receivers and then noticed the victims had activated theirs.
An avalanche beacon is always on transmit. You don't have to activate anything. The have a range of 40m.
Just a case of Stupid being STUPIDER............. BUT JUST to CORRECT this story,
The Two were Snow Boarding, NOT CROSS COUNTRY Sking.................
and NO ASSUALT Weapons were involved ! :)
@Coyotee----- Someone will make a stupid comment about assault weapons,wait and see.
Coyotee Huntr already did make the stupid statement. What does an assault weapon have to do with this story besides nothing.
We must ban avalanches! They kill too many people each year.
So if I am reading it right, the two cross country skied to a starting point then according to Hunter put on snowboards and made their run and could have triggered the avalanche? Bummer, Dude. GM usual suspects.
Well, the story says they cross country skiing, no mention of snowboarding, which would be kinda difficult in that type of terrain.
Ever hear of split boards where there are two individual skis to go UP and then they connect them together to board DOWN?
This is the kind of terrain these new type of boarder/skiers go to.
"At least they died doing what they loved", blah blah blah. What a tragedy.
downer for sure....
I really wish people would realize that this type of skiing is dangerous. Not only does it kill those who participate in the practice, but those who have to go in and try to rescue them. Please stay on maintained ski trails/courses. My condolences to the family and friends.
If you don't participate you shouldn't comment. I ski the backcountry almost every day. I am also a member of SAR and a Patroller. Things happen. They also happen in-bounds.
Getting an education and limiting your risk is key.
My condolences to the family.
While cross country skiing over Shrine Pass a number of years ago, the group I was with stopped in a relatively level area near some trees to eat lunch. As we used our skis to stomp a compressed area to sit, the entire level area, some 10 to 12 acres of snow, collapsed by a few inches beneath us. The snow didn't slide and nobody was injured, but it certainly surprised all of us, and we are all experienced back country skiers. Had we been on a steeper slope, we would probably have been in an avalanche. You sometimes can't tell what the snow will do until you are up there in it.
wrong thread