Jan 13, 2008 6:30 pm US/Mountain
Vail-Area Avalanche Reportedly Kills Skier
VAIL, Colo. (AP) ―
One of two skiers buried by an avalanche outside the boundaries of the Vail ski area Saturday was pronounced dead shortly after rescuers found him.
The two men, both from the Vail area, were buried by the snow slide shortly before 11 a.m. near where an avalanche killed a snowboarder Jan. 4.
Eagle County sheriff's spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly said that Jackie Rossman, 45, was able to free himself and call 911.
Matthew Gustafson, 33, was buried for about four hours before rescuers found him under 6 to 7 feet of snow. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Both men were wearing avalanche beacons.
Rescue teams estimated the slide was 900 feet wide and 1,500 feet long.
The avalanche danger is high in the Colorado backcountry because of a series of heavy snows. Spencer Logan, a forecaster at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said at least 18 people have been caught in slides, and two have been killed, since Dec. 30.
The risk of more slides forced the suspension of a search Saturday for Lygon Stevens, 20, on a mountain near Alamosa. She and her brother, Nick Stevens, were hiking on Little Bear Peak, near the 14,345-foot-high Blanca Peak, when an avalanche hit them Thursday morning.
Both were experienced climbers.
It took a day for Nick Stevens a day to hike out to where his cell phone would work. He had been hospitalized, but was with friends and family at the search site Saturday about 140 miles south of Denver.
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