A 57-year-old Ridgway man died in an avalanche Tuesday while backcountry skiing east of Red Mountain Pass, between Silverton and Ouray, according to the Ouray County coroner.
The victim was identified as Donald Moden Jr., who was a longtime volunteer with the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team, said Coroner R. Glenn Boyd.
The slide occurred in an area known as Red Mountain No. 3, known locally as Bollywood, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. It is the first avalanche death of the season in Colorado, said Kelsy Been, spokeswoman for the CAIC.
Moden was skiing alone at the time of the slide, Boyd said. He was adamant about checking in often and on-time. When he failed to check in about noon Tuesday, his family began looking for him.
People at a lodge in the area saw a snowslide about noon Tuesday, and rescuers quickly focused their efforts in that area.
Moden was well-known among the outdoor community in Ouray and Ridgway, Boyd said. He volunteered for about eight years with the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team. He was reportedly highly trained in reading snow and forecasting avalanche conditions.
“Everyone’s a little taken aback that it happened,” Boyd said. “It just kind of feels like a freak accident.”
The slide occurred on a northwest-facing slope at about 11,300 feet in elevation, according to the CAIC.
Avalanche forecasters visited the site Wednesday to learn more about the nature of the slide.
Avalanche conditions at the time of the slide were “moderate.” Forty percent of all avalanche fatalities happen in “moderate” conditions and 40% at “considerable” in Colorado, Been said.
“We’ve been trying to warn people that conditions are still very dangerous; people can still trigger a deadly avalanche,” Been said.
While Tuesday’s death is the first of the season in Colorado, it is only one of 1,750 slides that have been reported so far this season and one of 556 slides reported since Christmas, Been said.
Of the 556 avalanches reported since Christmas, 216 were triggered by humans, she said.
Of the nonfatal incidents, 24 people have been caught in avalanches and seven people have been buried so far this season, according to CAIC data.
Two other slides were reported Sunday on Red Mountain Pass. The first occurred in a northeast gully known as Sam’s Trees, where a skier made two turns before a slab broke loose. No one was buried in that slide.
The second involved two snowshoers who set out from Red Mountain Pass and traveled north toward Guston. The snowshoers were familiar with the area and the avalanche danger. They planned to stay on County Road 31.
The road cuts across a short, steep slope in Champion Gulch. Because of the avalanche danger, they decided one snowshoer would go first to break trail past the slope, then wait for the other to follow.
The second snowshoer was partway across when he triggered an avalanche, according to a CAIC report.
“He had time to tell Snowshoer 1 to ‘run’ before the avalanche swept him backward off the road and into the gully below,” the report says.
The avalanche carried the second snowshoer downhill. He ended up on his back, head facing downhill, with his head under snow. But he was only partially buried, and was able to waive his pole.
His female companion used her snowshoe as a shovel to try to unbury the man. The woman used a satellite communications function on her phone to call 911. She also screamed for help. Two other backcountry recreators heard her cries for help and assisted with their shovels.
The man was buried for at least 15 minutes. He never lost consciousness, and was able to walk out of the area on his own strength.
“This was an experienced couple who had recreated in the winter on Red Mountain Pass for almost 30 years,” the CAIC concluded in its report. “They went out for a ‘casual day’ when things went very wrong. Their determination, clear thinking during a stressful event, and ingenuity helped them walk out with only minor injuries.”
shane@durangoherald.com
