Here is a quick write-up on the first fatality of the season--a snowboarder near Vail Pass was buried and killed on 12/31/95. 1995 ended on a sad note for the family and friends of a 23 year-old snowboarder who was buried and killed in a very small avalanche he triggered near Vail Pass, Colorado. The Tennesse man and his wife were vacationing Colorado when, for some unknown reason, he decided to ride a steep slope immediately adjacent to the interstate highway, I-70, 3.6 miles west of the summit of Vail Pass. That morning the Vail Ski Area reported 14 inches of new snow that fell onto a thick, well-developed layer of surface hoar crystals that formed during a 10-day dry spell. Natural avalanches were running on all aspects below at all elevations, both above and below treeline. Alone, he was dropped off on the side of I-70 by his wife. From the highway he wallowed through thigh-deep and deeper snow across a shallow creek drainage and then climbed 400 vertical feet up a steep east-southeast facing slope well below treeline. During his climb he caused extensive cracks to shoot out from his tracks. At the top of the slope he started down, ridging his snowboard in the deep powder and causing additional cracking in the snow. He also caused two minor slabs that moved only about a dozen feet or so, but he kept going. Near the bottom of the slope he triggered a very small soft-slab avalanche that tipped him over and buried him, or at least his head and chest. The avalanche was only 1' deep by 30' feet across, and it fell less than 100 vertical feet. The debris did not end in a gully nor did it pile up. The debris was just deep enough to bury him. It seems that a part of him or his board stuck out from the snow; the tracks from the rescue team went straight to the victims hole. The avalanche was not witnessed, and it was not until his wife returned later to pick him up that she noticed what had happened. He had been buried about 4 hours and was dead when found by the rescue team. (Still awaiting more details.) This was a very preventable avalanche accident. Terrain, weather and snowpack clues clearly told that conditions were very dangerous, yet lacking avalanche-awareness training the man kept going. Nature was literally screaming in his ears that conditions were very dangerous, but ignorance lead to his death. Also traveling alone also lead to the man's death. Had he been accompanied by a friend he would have no doubt been quickly found even though he did not carry rescue equipment. His death was senseless and should remind all backcountry travelers that small slides are just as deadly as large avalanches. Dale Atkins Colorado Avalanche Information Center --------------------------------------------------------- December 31, 1995, near Vail Pass CO, Snowboarder Noel Santana, a 23 year old from Nashville, TN was dropped off by his wife and son at mile marker 187 near Vail Pass. He then climbed alone up a steep slope and triggered a 30 foot wide avalanche while snowboarding down. Rescuers later recovered him beneath 4 feet of debris, and several other slides occurred on other slopes while the rescuers were trying to reach the site. He had no beacon or shovel and although he was an experienced snowboarder at ski areas he knew very little about avalanches. It occurred during a snowstorm with 1-2 feet of new snow lying on a weak pre-exisitng snowpack. --------------------------------------------------------- Vail Times: Snowboarder didn't know what he was in for By Andrew Hood Daily Staff Writer Colorado's first avalanche fatality of the season broke a cardinal rule of backcountry travel and paid the ultimate price. Noel Santana, of Nashville, Tenn., died Sunday doing what avalanche experts say backcountry users should never do: venture out alone. "He broke one of the cardinal rules. He went alone into known avalanche terrain and the avalanche conditions were extremely high," said Tim Cochrane of the Vail Mountain Rescue group, which sent in a team of 16 volunteer rescuers and dug out Santana's body. The 23-year-old snowboarder was buried 4 feet deep in a 100-foot-long slide near Vail Pass in an area called "The Narrows," just south of Interstate 70 near mile marker 187. "Absolutely never go alone. That's the cardinal rule," Cochrane said. "If his buddy was waiting at the bottom, maybe he could have gone in and dug him out ... you never know." At about noon Sunday, friends dropped off Santana along the highway. He headed out alone without avalanche beacons, probe poles, shovels or other avalanche gear. Santana was eyeing the tempting, easy-to-get-to terrain, but didn't have the backcountry experience to spot the avalanche danger. Unfortunately for Santana, he ventured into what looked like a prime skiing glade, but is actually an avalanche zone that typically slides up to 15 times a season. "It looked like a great spot to go," Cochrane says. "He climbed the opposite slope. He made a run about one-third of the way down. He was buried about two-thirds the way down. "Unfortunately, he goes into a known avalanche zone. ... It was waist-deep powder. This thing just slid. There was just a tremendous amount of snow," he said. Friends returned to pick him up later that afternoon, but failed to spot him. They didn't even realize they were staring at the avalanche debris, located directly across the highway, Cochrane said. By the time rescuers arrived, Santana had been buried for several hours. By Wednesday, avalanche danger throughout Colorado remained high above timberline and moderate below timberline. More than 260 avalanches were reported in Colorado from Sunday to Tuesday following a winter storm that dumped more than 3 feet of snow in the central Rockies. After more than two weeks of cold, clear weather, the fresh snow created conditions ripe for an avalanche, experts say. "Before we got this storm we had quite a period with very little snow," said Nick Logan of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. "The cold weather deteriorated the upper layer of the old snowpack. On top of that we had surface hoar (frost) growth," Logan said. "Then the snowstorm started cold and turned warm. ... It just made for a very poor bond." Logan said the information center is urging backcountry users to stay off slopes steeper than 30 degrees. "It's just a very bad combination," Logan said. Cochrane said out-of-town visitors venturing into the backcountry present a troubling issue for local officials, who've been battling the past few years to increase avalanche awareness among county residents. "Here you've got an instance that this kid just didn't have any idea. He made a conscious choice to board this powder, and unfortunately, he made the wrong choice," Cochrane said. "I don't how we get around that. I feel we're reaching a lot of people. The people going into East Vail chutes seem to be better prepared. ... We haven't had a fatality over there since we started this effort in the last couple of years." Vail Mountain Rescue, Vail ski patrol, local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, the Newt Wheatley Foundation and the avalanche information center have collectively been promoting backcountry awareness. Avalanche seminars are available throughout the area. A three-day avalanche course is being held this week with the Newt Wheatley Foundation. The Vail ski patrol also provides training and provides information for skiers and snowboarders heading into the backcountry. "You can't patrol it all," Cochrane said. "People need to use a lot of caution in the backcountry. We're not going to tell them not to go into the backcountry. You can go in and do it safely."