Colorado鈥檚 first serious avalanche accident of the season took place in Summit County on Saturday, according to the 聽(CAIC). Summit County Rescue Group, assisted by a聽helicopter from national emergency rescue聽group Flight for Life, evacuated a skier聽partially buried on the east side of Bald Mountain, near the town of Breckenridge, according to .
The man was skiing alone on a northeast-facing slope,聽at an angle of about 38 degrees, that had received 20 inches of snow from the week鈥檚 storm. After the slide, he found a bar of cellphone聽service and made multiple calls to 911. At 2 p.m. local time, he reached a dispatcher聽to report that he was injured, according to CAIC聽forecaster Scott Toepfer, who has聽30 years of avalanche forecasting experience.聽
The man was rescued at 4:30 p.m. MST. His injuries were not life聽threatening, but he was at risk for hypothermia.
Two additional avalanches were reported in Summit County on Sunday.聽One was located near Arapahoe Basin, but not within the ski area鈥檚 boundaries, and the other was near the top of Loveland Pass. No burials were reported.
鈥淏oth my boss, who was with me, and I kept saying, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe how big this avalanche is on November 21,鈥欌 said Toepfer, who visited the slide area the next day. 鈥淭his was an unusually聽large avalanche for this time of year. And聽as much as I love avalanches, that makes me very anxious.鈥