COLORADO – Multiple avalanches in Colorado have been caught on camera over the last few days. It is amazing to see and at the same time frightening. It is also evidence of a much broader danger you are not seeing but happening in the high country.
Looking at information posted by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center shows more than 50 natural or accidental human-caused avalanches over the first weekend of March. There are dozens more intentionally triggered for mitigation purposes. There are likely more that go unnoticed and unreported.
The avalanches getting attention serve as warning and reason for essential back-county safety precautions during the winter in Colorado’s mountains. “If we even say the term back-country, side-country anything of that nature, your minimum is a beacon, shovel, probe,” said Shane Leva with the longtime Colorado Springs outdoor outfitter, Mountain Chalet. He is talking about avalanche safety equipment. He says you also have to know how to use the equipment.
The shop is sponsoring a free avalanche safety workshop on the 20th of March. It will go over equipment and also examine how to identify avalanche danger.
