# Snowboarder missing at Berthoud



## linvillegorge

Snowboarder missing near Berthoud Pass | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan

Shit. 

I hope he's OK and I hope if he is he's well prepared to spend a night out. It's going to be pretty brutal up there tonight. NOAA is saying a low of around 14 with winds up to 35mph for a windchill of -4. That's almost certainly on the optimistic side. Hwy 40 across Berthoud was shut down for much of the day (may still be as far as I know) for avalanche concerns.

This is not good.


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## killclimbz

It wasn't a very cold storm at all yesterday. It was raining all the way to Empire when I was driving up. It was also nuking up on the pass like I have never seen with high winds thrown in. I knew on my second lap that the pass was going to close. After an all time run down Floral Park that is exactly what happened. There was a CDOT guy in the parking lot letting us know they had just closed the pass and that if you dropped below the parking lot you were probably not a getting a ride back up. I took that as a time to bail notice as they were no longer plowing the pass too. There was a fair amount of people sticking around playing on the east and west side runs. As far as temps go, it was fairly warm and the snow was a bit on the heavier side. Not nearly the dangerous conditions of a couple of weeks ago. Still, it's pretty hard to get lost on the pass. Stinks like a NARSID or something of that ilk. Hopefully this guys is just lost and can't figure out that the road is somewhere below him...


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## linvillegorge

It was a pretty warm storm, especially compared to the brutal cold we had a couple of weeks ago, but the temps really started dropping last night around 8. I know it was 27 at the house when I posted this, so 14 at Berthoud was very possible. My concern is that if he was dressed for the temps during the day and didn't have some extra clothes with him, he'd be in a shitload of trouble when the temps dropped.


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## SPAZ

Damn I really hope if he is injured they find him before tonight, and as Wolf said he better be prepared to spend the night.
Good luck to him.


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## killclimbz

I am afraid this one isn't going to have a happy ending. S&R is evidently searching the Apron.

Search continues for snowboarder missing at Berthoud pass - The Denver Post



> The search is concentrated in an area where an avalanche occurred on Monday afternoon. The area is above Seven Mile Run, near the second switchback from the top of Berthoud on the Grand County side, according to Foley. Backcountry skiers might refer to the area as "below the fingers."


"Below the fingers" would be the Apron which is the slope below the High Trail Cliffs. The Choke, The Knuckle, and the fingers all go through that cliff band. It's a pretty rad area, but you have to be wary of getting swept from above. Then the snow at the exit is a big Apron (hence the name) of snow working down. It slides a lot and it also tends to slide big. Yesterday morning I observed that it already had three naturals on it. Two point release slides and slab fracture. Snow was already reloading it. I really hope this guy was not out there, one could be buried very deep in that spot.


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## killclimbz

Yeah it was a big slide, but that was Stanley Slide Path and not at the area where the snowboarder is probably lost. Stanley is a huge path that crosses the highway in two spots. Took some cars out four or five years ago and caused me an eight hour drive back to Denver. 

By reading the article it sounds like they had a very specific area to search and it couldn't be that huge. A probe line should have found him. So maybe, just maybe this guy went down the Seven mile (3.5 miles long) trail and got trapped by the flats there. It's very hard to get through on a board if the trail hasn't been broken. I hope they thought to send someone down it. It's not threatened by avalanches except maybe once every 100+ years. Definitely not this time. Of course spending another night out there is not a good thing either and that could do it. 

I also understand they are not doing avy control on the pass until they either call it or find him. That doesn't help either, as backcountry users who would be out there and might find him are not going to be there. *Edit, they have opened the pass, good hopefully someone will find this guy*


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## linvillegorge

Snowolf said:


> Weather hinders search for missing snowboarder - KWGN


"Officials in Grand County say Miller and a friend were snowboarding in an area called "The Fingers" when a small snow slide occurred near the two men and Miller's dog. According to the friend, Miller and his dog were behind him, though he lost track of the two a short distance later. He told searchers that he snowboarded the same drainage two more times looking for Miller but was unable to find him."

NOT good. 

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that these guys didn't have beacons.

killclimbz, where is "The Fingers"? I've never heard that. The only thing I could think of that could be referred to as "The Fingers" would be Ten Little Indians and if those guys were in those chutes then holy hell...


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## ElChupocabra

The fingers are just east of the second switch back down berthound (coming from the interstate) and north of the old ski area. "fingers" are a pretty generic name for fluted terrain so you should be able to pick out the terrain on you r way to or from winterpark/maryjane. In other words its the treed chutes viewers left of the open chutes and flutes. Been a minute since I've been there but I hope that helps.

This dude and his dog are gonners (unfortunately). No way he could be that lost. It would take an idiot less than a day to climb out of seven mile especially with the traffic it receives.


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## ElChupocabra

on an unrelated note, what runs would you recommend when avy danger is considerable to high on some aspects? Is telegraph pretty safe from slides?


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## killclimbz

The only thing I know of that is called the Fingers is the High Trail Cliffs. The tree runs are High Trail Trees, Shop Chutes, Sentinel, and North Chute. All of which have avy danger, but not really any towards the bottom of the trails. I still believe they are looking around the apron, but this is all media reports so who knows. With the amount of snow that came down, I could see a person on a snowboard getting stuck there overnight, but certainly not two nights. 

As far as safe runs go. Hoop Creek, Telegraph (the very bottom of that is threatened by slides from Floral Park), Hells Half Acre, Current Creek 90's area, the Meadows, and Pumphouse are all relatively safe bets.


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## turbospartan

killclimbz said:


> The only thing I know of that is called the Fingers is the High Trail Cliffs. The tree runs are High Trail Trees, Shop Chutes, Sentinel, and North Chute. All of which have avy danger, but not really any towards the bottom of the trails. I still believe they are looking around the apron, but this is all media reports so who knows. With the amount of snow that came down, I could see a person on a snowboard getting stuck there overnight, but certainly not two nights.
> 
> As far as safe runs go. Hoop Creek, Telegraph (the very bottom of that is threatened by slides from Floral Park), Hells Half Acre, Current Creek 90's area, the Meadows, and Pumphouse are all relatively safe bets.



Vibes to the lost rider... its not looking good but hopefully they find him. 



Don't want to take away from the original intent of this thread, but I had a question:


Kill - is there a map or anything for these backcountry spots that lays all of these "runs" out, or do you just gain this knowledge over time? I mean, does everyone call all of these "runs" the same thing and it gets out by word of mouth, or how is it documented?


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## killclimbz

Check out "Backcountry Skiing Berthoud Pass" by Jordan Lipp. I believe it's out of print but you can find used copies here and there. It might still be available at REI if there is still a print copy going around. It basically covers the old ski area and Current Creek. 

Doug Scott also does Topo maps with known avalanche paths at Berthoud overlayed on it. Most of these paths are also ski runs. 

A lot of the other drainages are learned by getting out with locals or exploring on your own. There are several runs in 2nd, 1st, and 0 creek that I have no idea what their names are.


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## killclimbz

Just heard from my wife that search and rescue found his body. He had gotten buried by a slide. RIP Jeff.


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## killclimbz

Slightly more info here.

Missing Snowboarder Found Dead On Berthoud Pass - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

I am sure CAIC will have a preliminary report up soon.


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## Zee

This really sucks, what a tragic weekend overall.


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## linvillegorge

killclimbz said:


> Just heard from my wife that search and rescue found his body. He had gotten buried by a slide. RIP Jeff.


Damn it. That sucks, but at this point it was pretty much expected.

RIP bro.

Did it ever surface if they had gear and training? I'm guessing no. His buddy lapped it again twice, but no mention of a beacon search.


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## killclimbz

No avy gear. If he had of been wearing a beacon, they would have found him Monday. No news on the dog yet either. I am thinking the pooch is somewhere along the seven mile trail. I might be up there tomorrow so I think I might take a run down that drainage and see if we can find the poor guy.


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## bravo_castle

A bad situation, at its worst, truly nightmare-like scenario.

How long would you keep searching for your buddy (given the circumstances)?
No avi gear ... 

Hopefully his dog will be found.


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## jeri534

so sad, RIP.

Is it my or has there been a shit ton of deaths already this season in resorts and the backcountry?

Stay safe out there


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## killclimbz

Unfortunately I heard this morning that the dog was also buried and killed.

My experience with the pooches in the backcountry is that they often get flushed out and not buried, but obviously that is not 100% of the time. Lighter weight, the constant swimming motion, generally keeps them on top. Riding with a dog, also makes me extra conservative when out there. I don't want to lose my best friend and putting a beacon on him is not an option. There are lines where I make my partners hold onto Cody while I drop. Then after I give the all clear they send him down. If I don't trigger a slope, it's not likely a little 50lb dog is going too. Still, that does freak me out a bit. Sound decision making skills are pretty much required if you want to ride with you dog in the bc. Unfortunately there wasn't much of this in this situation. 26 is too young to die and there are a bunch of people hurting now that he is gone. I do remember seeing Jeff on the pass here and there.


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## linvillegorge

That sucks. With Jeff already gone, it would've been nice for a small sliver of good news to come out of this.


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## killclimbz

I hate to keep talking on this one, but there is a lot that can be learned here.

CAIC has their preliminary report out.

CAIC: Colorado Avalanche Information Center

He was riding in the exact area that I thought he was. From the report from his friend, sounds like the slide released from above the cliffs. Not a good scenario. Those cliffs have a convex roll and get very wind loaded. A trained eye would instantly see this. 

Avalanches just don't care if you are an expert, novice, uneducated, superhero, dog, whatever. They will take anyone and anything out that annoys them.


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## linvillegorge

I don't know if they realized the danger they were putting themselves in or not. I do know that from chatting with some people that there are many people out there who would consider themselves relatively avy savvy that don't understand that you can trigger an avalanche without being on the slope itself. That it's very possible to trigger one from below without even being on the slope. This sounds like what very well could've happened in this place.

I had no clue this was possible before reading Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain. I know just enough about avalanche awareness to get myself in trouble in complicated terrain, but at least I know that.


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## pencap75

Excuse my ignorance as I have never ridden backcountry. But, technically, how does one go snowboarding with a dog? Does the dog run down the mountain as you carve down? Is the dog at the bottom waiting for the master? Is it a little dog in a back pack? I'm just trying to picture how you backcountry ride with a dog.


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## linvillegorge

pencap75 said:


> Does the dog run down the mountain as you carve down?


This. I've rode with killclimbz and his dog a couple of times. Dogs do just fine in the snow.


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## killclimbz

A few things about this accident. 

Lot's of little mistakes added up to taking a life. 

The victim had a beacon, left it in his car. I assume this is because his partner did not have avy gear.

Evidently they were planning on riding the 7 mile trail. Which by itself is not really threatened by avalanches and is about as safe as it can get to ride. There is a 100 year path that comes down from the Mines drainage. If that one gets you in Seven Mile, well god hates you. The problem is that getting into the 7 mile trail brings you under some avy paths. There are pretty safe lines to get through this but conditions contributed to them not taking that route. 

Conditions as mentioned were snowing hard and very windy. Hard to see white out at times. So visibility was an issue. From what I have seen they traversed too high when they were trying to get onto the seven mile trail. They ended up smack in the middle of the apron. A loaded face that rips a fair amount of times. Jeff's partner was able to ride out, while Jeff most likely had the rug pulled out from under him.

He was not buried deep. Most likely that he suffocated. 

I am pretty sure that the slab fracture I noticed on the Apron was the one that got him after reading some of the reports. From where he was found, and where they talk about the slide, it almost certainly is. We could have done something.

This is a stark reminder as to why we carry avy gear. Better to have a gun and not need it...


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## linvillegorge

Damn it, that sucks even worse. So reminiscent of the last death on Berthoud as that victim's avy gear was in the passenger seat of his car in the parking lot.

I hate to play Monday morning QB on this, but Jeff should've known better than to have been out on the pass in those conditions, with the avy danger where it was with a partner with no gear. Even in areas you know very well, it's easy to get a bit off track in low visibility. A bit off track in avalanche terrain can be the difference between living and dying.

You're probably right that visibility played a role here. It sounds like Jeff knew what he was doing and was trying to play it safe, but the poor visibility may have led to him getting a bit off course and into an area he didn't intend to be in.


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## killclimbz

I agree that all of the classic red flags were there. Snowing over an inch an hour, lot's of wind, plus natural avalanches were visible at various spots on the pass. Ultimately he paid with his life. You can't really ask for much more than that. Hopefully this is a learning experience. 

I was at the pass on Friday and almost everyone I talked too was asking about this accident. So it is definitely in front of people's minds. Of course there was a fair number of riders out there sans gear, hopefully they won't venture into avalanche terrain...


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