One person is dead after a Saturday evening avalanche swept over part of the Rocky Mountains near Berthoud Pass in northern Colorado’s Grand County, sheriff’s officials said.
A snowboarder triggered the avalanche in an area on Mines Peak known as “the Fingers” or the “High Trail Cliffs” at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The Fingers are a set of steep, rocky, northwest-facing avalanche paths that backcountry skiers and snowboarders can access from the summit of Berthoud Pass, state officials said.
The snowboarder killed Saturday will be identified by the Grand County Coroner’s Office at a later date.
Hours earlier, at about 2:25 p.m. Saturday, another Grand County avalanche trapped several snowmobilers on Gravel Mountain near Grand Lake, sheriff’s officials said in a news release.
Four people were caught in the avalanche but were able to rescue themselves and each other from the snow, sheriff’s officials said. None of the snowmobilers were injured.
Investigators believe one of the snowmobilers triggered the avalanche.
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