The skier, who was not identified, was crossing slopes near
Conejos Peak, 280 miles southwest of Denver, when the accident
occurred at an elevation of 11,700 feet, the Colorado Avalanche
Information Center said in a statement.
It was the seventh avalanche death in Colorado this season. Over
the last 10 years, an average of 28 people are killed annually
by avalanches in the United States, the center said.
A woman who was buried alive along with her husband by an
avalanche that swallowed their house late last week in Missoula,
Montana, died of her injuries on Sunday night. Her husband is
hospitalized in serious condition.
Almost all U.S. avalanches that affect people strike in the
backcountry of the mountainous West and are triggered by
snowmobilers, skiers and snowboarders seeking fresh powder,
according to federal avalanche experts.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver, Colorado;
editing by Eric
M. Johnson/Mark Heinrich)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](column_spacer.png) |