



– Six people have already died from avalanches in Colorado this winter and right now the threat is high or extreme in much of the high country.

On a scale of one to five, avalanche danger is as high as a four right now in certain areas of the state.

A latest video is just another example of how delicate the snow in the high country is and how easily humans can trigger a slide. What started out as a daring ski run quickly became a dangerous situation, despite the cheers of those looking on. It’s one of many human-caused avalanches that Colorado’s high country has experienced lately.

Watch Valerie Castro’s report that includes the video in the clip below:

“We’re certainly seeing much more dangerous conditions than we have in years, maybe even in decades,” Ethan Greene with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said.

Greene said most areas are seeing considerable to high danger.

(The most precarious places in the state are highlighted in red on the CAIC map pictured below, including the San Juan region where the latest video was taken.)

Greene says the video is actually very telling of how unstable the area is.

“They were skiing on a slope right next to an adjacent avalanche that happened about 3 days before,” Greene said.

In the video the equipment packs that should contain avalanche survival gear like shovels and beacons were on the ground when the avalanche hit. Greene said the spectators were very lucky.

Everyone in the video was okay, but according to the CIAC there were two more avalanches in that same area on Tuesday.

An avalanche shut down Highway 6 over Loveland Pass on Tuesday. Nobody was hury.

LINK: Colorado Avalanche Information Center