An unnamed EMS official reported that the Flight for Life helicopter was flown in for the sole purpose of delivering an avalanche dog.  He also reported that there had already been an avalanche dog at the scene when the second dog was flown in.

An unnamed witness reported that the snowboard tracks that can be seen just to the left (skier’s right) towards to top of the avalanche we laid down AFTER the avalanche occurred.  In the photo on Teton Gravity (see below) the showboarder’s tracks are absent.

I and two other people scanned the area with a decent pair of binoculars and were unable to see any tracks leading into the avalanche area.

The fact that we were unable to see tracks into the avalanche, the report that the closest tracks were laid after the slide, and the fact that no body was recovered indicate that this may well have been a naturally triggered avalanche.

Here is a nice post on Teton Graity with a much better photo and a good description of the situation. Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the post by bngofast.

The avalanche danger rating for the “Front Range” (that includes Berthoud pass) for today, Saturday, 12/19/09, was reported as considerable by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

For those of you that are not experienced backcountry skiers/riders please make sure to review the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s web site before you venture into the backcountry.  The daily reports are typically issued between 5:30 am and 7:00 am and even if this is too late you can still get an idea of the situation by checking the previous day’s report.  Just use your favorite search engine to search for “CAIC” and you’ll find the site.

As a side note, I witnessed Greg Foley, Grand County Search and Rescue incident commander, in a heated argument with either a sheriff’s deputy or a National Forest Service official.  Foley flipped off the other official holding his finger inches from the official’s face.  A uniformed sheriff’s deputy stood by and witnessed the heated exchange.

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