Colorado Skiers & Snowboarders Help Each Other Dig Out In Between Runs
BERTHOUD PASS, Colo. (CBS4) - By Monday morning, 39 inches of fresh snow covered Berthoud Pass. Many eager backcountry users found themselves digging out cars in between taking laps.
"It's been going on like this all morning. People recognize that there's a lot of snow, got to take advantage of that so they've been… everybody's been helping out," said Dave Harms, a teacher in Jefferson County, who was skiing for the day.
In a period of 20 minutes, Harms had personally dug out three cars. He also managed to get three laps in as well and was gearing up for another when he stopped to chat with CBS4.
"This is a place where we bring students to train as well because it's less than a 30 degree aspect here in terms of doing some of the avalanche training," Harms said. "The concern of slide is much, much less. I mean obviously the further north you go with the chutes area, not a good time to be in those right now, but the rest of it's really good in the glades and hells half acre right here."
With all the new snow, avalanche danger in the high country was considerable across most of the state Monday.
"Everybody's staying safe, you know? They've got their probes, their avy shovels, you know beacons, etcetera, and everyone is just helping each other out in terms of terrain as well."
While nearly every car that entered the lot was stuck at some point, there were few complaints.
"Will this put a damper on your day?" CBS4's Jamie Leary asked one stuck driver,
"Oh no! No, no. The plan is to enjoy that last our of daylight we got 'till 7:30 so I'm going to make it count," he replied.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center posts updates daily on avalanche conditions across the state. Everyone is encouraged to check it before heading into the backcountry.
