Avalanche kills snowboarder in Colorado backcountry

OPHIR, Colo. — OPHIR, Colo. (AP) – An avalanche killed a 67-year-old man as he was snowboarding solo in the Colorado backcountry, authorities said Tuesday, marking the fourth U.S. avalanche death this winter.

The victim, Peter Harrelson, was a physician and longtime resident of the small southwestern Colorado town of Ophir, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office.

He was reported late Monday evening after embarking on a backcountry tour in the Waterfall Canyon area south of Ophir. Friends followed his tracks that night but were unable to find him, according to the Colorado Avalanche Center.

Search and rescue teams reached the site Tuesday morning and found Harrelson’s body, the center said. Avalanche center spokesperson Kelsy Been said the man was likely traveling alone.

After a slow start to winter, avalanche danger in Colorado has increased in recent weeks. About 1,100 avalanches were reported by the center statewide over a one-week period beginning Jan. 11.

Conditions have since improved and the area where Harrelson died was only under moderate avalanche danger on Monday. But the risk of accidents remains, says Been.

“There are still dangerous conditions out there. We are still receiving reports of dangerous avalanches,” she said.

Harrelson’s death comes after three people died in avalanches earlier this month, all within less than a week.

These accidents include a backcountry skier who died in the mountains of western Wyoming, an accident at a California ski area that killed one person and injured three others, and an avalanche that killed a skier and a second person was injured in the backcountry of Idaho, near the Montana border. .