After the snow
Southwest Colorado has been rocked yet again by what is proving to be the most tragic avalanche season in recent and distant memory.

Jerome Bouray, a sales representative of Silverton-based Venture Snowboards, was the sole survivor of last Saturday’s massive slide near Loveland Pass. Four splitboarders and one skier perished in the slide, which took place during the informal Rocky Mountain High Backcountry Gathering on April 20. According to a report in from the Colorado Avalanche Infomration Center, Bouray was his hand and forearm exposed and his face near the surface. He eventually dug out his head so he could breathe and call for help. He was buried for nearly four hours before rescuers arrived.

On Monday, Venture posted an update on its Facebook page thanking people for their concern and support and saying Bouray was now “home and unharmed, though obviously still rattled after Saturday’s events. Please continue sending your love and positive vibes his way!”

The avalanche, which was the deadliest in Colorado in 50 years, claimed the lives of Chris Peters, 32, of Lakewood; Joe Timlin, 32, of Gypsum, who was an organizer of the event; Ian Lamphere, 36, of Crested Butte, founder of Gecko climbing skins; and Rick Gaukel, 33, a guide with the American Mountain Guides Association, from Estes Park.

Lamphere left behind a fiancee and infant daughter, Madelyn. A fund has been set up for the family at www.indiegogo.com/projects/fund-for-madelyn.

The Backcountry Gathering included a fund-raiser the night before in Dillon for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, and all men involved in the slide were said to be experienced backcountry travelers. All victims were wearing beacons and carrying avalanche rescue gear. A few were wearing Avalungs and at least one had an inflatable air bag.

However, last week, the typically settled spring skiing conditions proved anything but in the central and northern mountains, which have been battered by a series of heavy, wet, late-season storms. Two days prior to the Loveland Pass tragedy, which is believed to have been kicked off by the skiers from hundreds of feet below the crownline, two snowboarders were caught in a slide near Vail Pass in which one was killed.

 

For the CAIC's full report on teh incident, which was released Wed., 4/24, afternoon, go to: https://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_report.php?accfm=inv&acc_id=505&view=public

Closer to home, survivors of Peter Carver, who was killed in an avalanche near Silverton on Feb. 2, have planted a tree at Needham Elementary in his memory. The tree, an English oak from David Temple’s McElmo Canyon nursery, was planted during a ceremony on Wed., April 24, near the playground on the west side of the school.