DURANGO, Colo. (AP) - A report by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center has provided details about the actions of a group of skiers involved in a fatal avalanche.
The Feb. 1 avalanche near Silverton caught four members of a seven-person group, The Durango Herald reports.
Authorities said 52-year-old Seth Bossung, 40-year-old Andy Jessen and 49-year-old Adam Palmer were killed in the avalanche near Ophir Pass in an area known as “The Nose.”
The avalanche information center report released Sunday said four skiers reached an area at 11,800 feet (3,597 meters) elevation and decided to ski down a northeast-facing slope. The skiers descended one at a time and regrouped at an area above a gully.
The avalanche was triggered around 3:20 p.m. when the skiers entered the gully and one member of the group tried unsuccessfully to warn another to avoid the area’s steep slopes, the report said.
The only survivor among the four, who was not identified, stayed on his feet during the first wave of the avalanche and deployed an airbag. Then a larger, second wave engulfed the group.
“It felt like I was in a river and I was fully under the snow for approximately 15 to 25 seconds,” the skier told investigators.
The members of the group who were not caught in the avalanche skied into the gully and tried to find the buried skiers using a beacon signal. They located the survivor’s airbag and dug him out.
The deceased skiers were found buried 9 feet (2.7 meters), 11 feet (3.3 meters) and 20 feet (6.1 meters) under the snow, the report said.
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