The spring touring season is on in a big way out West. But even with the spring conditions, it’s better to get off steeper slopes early to avoid wet slides. Sam Jones was given a get-out-of-jail-free card from the snow gods last weekend on Quandary Peak outside of Breckenridge, Colorado. Jones posted some sobering video to YouTube from an avalanche that hurtled him what looks like a thousand feet towards the valley floor.
Jones told local media he had split off form his party when the slide knocked him off his feet, sending him on a ride down the 14,000-foot peak. He was humbled by the event, to say the least.
“I have a new, humble respect for what a little slide can do,” Jones said about releasing his airbag and surviving the avalanche. “On the walk out, I felt a deep sense of guilt because I knew I got away with something I shouldn’t have. We should have been off that mountain an hour earlier and I should not have been so far ahead of the other two members of my group. I’ll be taking the rest of the (ski) season to pause and reflect and I think the best way to honor the mountain giving me safe passage is to only return when I’m humble and ready, and only after I’ve received more formal avalanche education.”
Sadly, another solo skier was killed near Breckenridge on the same day about 10 miles away on Bald Mountain (“Baldy” to locals). That slide was triggered on the east side of that peak. The skier was reported missing by his girlfriend when he didn’t return and his body was reportedly recovered around 11 p.m.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has reported that some 20 people have been caught in slides this winter in Colorado alone, with 16 buried and 11 killed. It’s certainly been a deadly winter. Be careful out there, wherever you find yourself.
