A Ridgway man who was backcountry skiing near Red Mountain Pass was killed after being buried by an avalanche on Tuesday.
Ouray County Coroner Glenn Boyd identified the victim as 57-year-old Donald Moden Jr. An autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death is pending.
Moden’s death is the first reported avalanche fatality of this winter season in Colorado.
Tuesday’s avalanche was the third reported avalanche in the Red Mountain Pass area this week, with two others occurring Sunday.
The avalanche involving Moden happened on a northwest-facing slope at an elevation of around 11,300 feet on Red Mountain No. 3, in an area called “Bollywood” by locals, according to Ouray County Sheriff Justin Perry and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
This map marks the location of the fatal avalanche, east of U.S. Highway 550, also called the Million Dollar Highway. Map courtesy Colorado Avalanche Information Center
Perry said Moden, an experienced backcountry climber and skier who was a former member of the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team, went skiing by himself Tuesday morning. His wife called the Ouray County Sheriff’s Office around 2 p.m. when he hadn’t returned home, Ouray Sheriff’s Sgt. Bernie Chism said.
Chism said he responded to the area, found Moden’s vehicle and contacted Ouray Mountain Rescue. He said an employee of San Juan Mountain Guides witnessed the avalanche and waited until two teams of Ouray Mountain Rescue volunteers arrived to try to assist with the search. Rescuers recovered Moden’s body Tuesday afternoon.
Perry said Moden was wearing or carrying all of the safety equipment backcountry skiers and snowboarders should have with them, including an avalanche beacon, a GPS locator and a vest that’s designed to inflate in the event of an avalanche. He said he didn’t know whether the vest inflated.
“It’s just a real tragic situation,” Perry said.
The avalanche occurred east of Red Mountain Alpine Lodge near County Road 31 in an area that is susceptible to avalanches and slides, Perry said.
This image shows the area where the fatal avalanche occurred on Tuesday. Photo courtesy Colorado Avalanche Information Center
No other details about the avalanche or recovery were available Wednesday. CAIC forecasters were expected to visit the site to gather more information and investigate the slide. Avalanche conditions in the area were considered “moderate” — level 2 of 5 — at the time of the slide, according to CAIC.
There were two other avalanches reported near Red Mountain on Sunday.
In one of those avalanches, two snowshoers were caught in the Champion Gulch area north of Red Mountain Pass, according to CAIC. Both sustained minor injuries.
The couple followed County Road 31 north toward Guston across a short, steep slope in the gulch. The female snowshoer broke trail about 150 feet along the road and waited on the other side of the slope. The male snowshoer was part of the way across the slope when he triggered the avalanche. He had time to tell the woman to “run” before the avalanche swept him off the road into the gully below, according to a CAIC report.
The man ended up on his back with his head underneath the snow when the avalanche stopped. He told CAIC forecasters he tried to keep his ski pole up during the avalanche and was able to wave it around above the debris.
The woman spotted the pole sticking out and used her snowshoe to uncover the man’s face about 15 minutes after the avalanche. The man did not lose consciousness. She continued to dig and shouted for help. Two other backcountry recruiters heard her and used their shovels to dig the man out, according to the report.
All four walked out on County Road 31 and met Ouray Mountain Rescue Team members about two hours after the avalanche. The man sustained minor scrapes and mild injuries from the cold, while the woman had minor hand injuries from digging in the snow.
The couple was not carrying avalanche rescue equipment, although the woman had an emergency satellite communications device that allowed her to alert 911, according to the CAIC report.
“This was an experienced couple who had recreated in the winter on Red Mountain Pass for almost 30 years. They went out for a ‘casual day’ when things went very wrong. Their determination, clear thinking during a stressful situation, and ingenuity helped them walk out with only minor injuries,” CAIC forecasters wrote in the report.
In the other avalanche, a skier triggered a slide that same day south of Red Mountain Pass near the Columbine Lake trailhead in an area known as Chattanooga.
The skier was in a group of three descending a gully when the slide broke above the skier. The skier was not buried or injured, according to a CAIC report.
