Glenwood Springs man killed in avalanche near Marble after two others rescued
Two men are reportedly hospitalized and one is dead after they were caught in an avalanche Friday near the town of Marble. Search and rescue personnel are resuming operations Saturday.
The incident occurred on Chair Mountain, a 12,721-foot peak on the Pitkin-Gunnison county border about seven miles west of Marble. The body of 36-year-old Joel Shute of Glenwood Springs was recovered around 1 p.m. Saturday, the Gunnison County Sheriff's Office said Saturday evening.
Shute is the eighth person to die in an avalanche in Colorado this season.
According to the IERCC, first responders were notified of the avalanche Friday at 5:52 p.m. One of the men was able to work his way out of the slide area. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Meanwhile, the second male was flown out of the area to a hospital. The details do not include whether this second man was pulled from the slide by witnesses or rescuers, or how long and how deep he may have been buried.
On Thursday, a skier triggered the very large avalanche in the area near Marble, according to a Facebook post from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). It was recorded on video.
The video in this post shows a very large avalanche that a skier triggered on Thursday. It was on an east-facing slope near Marble. Fortunately, nobody was caught in this avalanche. It would have been very difficult to come out unscathed. Over the last week, backcountry riders triggered several large avalanches from the Gore Range to Fremont Pass to the Elk Mountains. These avalanches have been breaking beneath the new snow since March 10 and sometimes on faceted layers surrounding a crust. The common theme is that these destructive avalanches have all run on easterly-facing slopes. Be very careful around easterly-facing slopes no matter what backcountry area you are traveling in. Please get your full detailed forecast at colorado.gov/avalanche
Posted by Colorado Avalanche Information Center - CAIC on Friday, March 17, 2023
No one was caught in Thursday's slide, but the CAIC warned the slide-prone conditions on north-, east- and south-facing slopes merited extra caution after recent snowfall.
#COAvalancheInfo People are having close calls with large avalanches. Eight reports of people caught or carried in avalanches this week, all on east and southeast-facing slopes. Check the forecast and consider avoiding steep easterly slopes altogether https://t.co/E7yJWqyZwj pic.twitter.com/XLgssB2wI6
— CAIC:Statewide Info (@COAvalancheInfo) March 18, 2023
The photo in the Twitter message is taken from the lower part of Thursday's slide, according to the CAIC's online report.