A Crested Butte woman was killed by an avalanche while snowboarding on Thursday in Ophir Pass near Silverton.
San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and Silverton Medical Rescue were alerted to the accident at 1:09 p.m. Thursday, according to a Facebook post from Silverton Medical Rescue.
The 41-year-old woman was snowboarding in the backcountry with a male skier, also from Crested Butte, in Middle Fork Mineral Creek, known locally as “The Nose,” when she was caught and buried in the avalanche, according to the post. The man was also caught in the avalanche but managed to ski out.
Staff in a nearby hut noticed the avalanche and alerted search and rescue, according to an accident report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, before joining the skier to help find and uncover the snowboarder. The woman was dead when rescuers found her.
Silverton Medical Rescue dispatched its Avalanche Response team to the scene at 1:57 p.m. where members extracted the woman using a helicopter, according to the Facebook post.
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