Avalanche Danger Is Considerably High And Expected To Rise
VAIL, Colo. (CBS4) - The snow has been off-and-on in the high country since Saturday and more is expected over the next few days. But it's exactly what snowmobilers want to see.
The mountain resorts around said they got only a few inches overnight, but some backcountry travelers told CBS4's Jeff Todd they think the new snow is closer to a foot.
Southern Colorado is measuring snow in feet also and that's created really dangerous conditions. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued avalanche warnings for the South San Juan, Sangre de Cristo and Gunnison areas. That means natural and human-triggered avalanches are likely and deadly.
LINK: Colorado Avalanche Information Center
The Front Range and central mountains also have considerable danger and are under an avalanche watch.
Even with the avalanche concerns, there were dozens of people heading into the backcountry on snowmobiles reveling in all the fresh powder on Sunday.
"Ultimately this is about backcountry skiing and the snowmobiles are just transportation to get to it, so it's pretty nice," snowmobiler Michael Barney said. "There's always avalanche concern. One of the promises I made to myself and my wife is that I get some avalanche training before I put the skis on the sled … and I did that a few weeks ago.
"I think I left that training certainly with a healthier respect -- probably more afraid of avalanches now than I (was) before, and I think that there's absolutely always avalanche concerns."
The avalanche danger is expected to rise in the central mountains Monday as the snow continues to fall. The storm is expected to shift north and the area will become the bulls-eye over the next few days with the highest accumulations expected Monday night into Tuesday. There's potential for another foot or two by the time the sun and blue skies return on Wednesday.
