Miles Blumhardt

milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com

After making it through mid-January without an avalanche death, Colorado, the country's notorious leader in such deaths, has recorded its first two deaths just two days apart last week.

Colorado's fatalities were two of 10 across the western U.S. since Jan. 16, the day one of the two Colorado victims was believed swept to his death. The 11 fatalities nationally makes this January the deadliest January in about two decades, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The climber's body was discovered near St. Mary's Lake northwest of Idaho Spring on Saturday by an avalanche rescue dog in the debris field. That avalanche was a large one estimated by CAIC staff to have measured 1,200 feet wide, running nearly 650 vertical feet and 3 to 4 feet deep.

On. Jan. 21, a snowmobiler died west of Crested Butte.

Colorado regularly leads the nation ion avalanche deaths with about six per year.

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Seven people have been caught in avalanches in Colorado this season. There have been around 200 avalanches reported in the state. A large avalanche temporarily blocked Colorado Highway 14 last week near Cameron Pass, 70 miles west of Fort Collins.

Having a rash of fatalities is not an anomaly but rather the norm. The CAIC reports in the U.S. about 70 percent of fatal avalanche accidents occur within four days of the previous accidents. The reason is most people are recreating in the same avalanche-prone conditions, usually which are at a heightened state.

Colorado's snowpack is just above average for most river basins. The North Platte River Basin west of Fort Collins is at 97 percent and the South Platte Basin is at 103 percent as of Tuesday.

Current avalanche conditions are moderate for the Northern Colorado mountains today. CAIC cautions that despite the lower rating, the possibility to trigger an avalanche large enough to bury, injure or even kill is there.

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January is often the time in Colorado when weak under layers of snow can give way after snow piles up on them.

Persistent slab avalanches remain the state's primary avalanche problem due to two weak layers in the snowpack. The first layer of faceted grains of snow, which act as ball bearings, is buried about 12 to 18 inches deep. Since it is close to the surface, these avalanches will be easiest to trigger.

The second layer is of similar nature and located at the bottom of the snowpack.

For updates avalanche conditions, visit http://avalanche.state.co.us/

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