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Maurice Kervin spends a lot of time in the Colorado backcountry. Thankfully, he hasn’t had a lot of days like this and when he does experience a day that goes sideways, he has all the right equipment. Kervin was caught in a massive avalanche on Colorado’s Loveland Pass in the Arapaho National Forest this week that took him ripping down the mountainside. He was wearing an inflatable pack that you can hear deploy once he’s caught in the sizable slide. “Close call,” he wrote on his Instagram page. “Glad we made it out safe! Could have made better choices today but shit happens.”
Kervin told local media he didn’t feel good about the scenario beforehand, even though the avalanche conditions had improved recently. “I remember before I dropped in and before my buddy skied down to his viewing point, telling him, ‘I don’t know man. I’m kind of nervous about this run, and if it goes it’s probably going to go big,'” he said.
Kervin slid over 1,000 feet down a steep, open face – where slides are more likely to occur. Despite a decade of experience in the backcountry and avalanche training, he still admits he made a mistake. Which can happen to everyone. Best to avoid open, exposed slopes if there’s any doubt, though.
“I knew what we were doing, and I knew what the possibilities were, and the possibilities that I had feared came true,” he said.
Be safe out there and carry the right gear.
For information on local avalanche reports and education near you, visit Avalanche.org.
