Front Range

Avalanche

Party of 3 skiers ascended old ski lift line west of Berthoud Pass, and continued up the east ridge of Mt Russell. They did not like the looks of the east face and decided to turn around, at which point the first skier in the group lost a ski, which slid down slopes into the east/southeast-facing terrain of Russell; the very terrain they we're trying to avoid. Skier one slid down the ridge to a point where he could see where the renegade ski had ended up. He left his other ski planted in the snow on the ridge, and began to descend on foot to retrieve his lost ski. Towards the bottom of the slope, the person on foot triggered a Wind Slab avalanche that broke approximately 30 ft above him. He was swept up in the debris, deployed his airbag, and was swept downhill around 30 ft. Fortunately, he was not buried in the debris, and came to rest uninjured on the surface. He lost a ski in the debris.