All:
I am posting this as yet another reminder to us all of the power behind even a small avalanche. In this terrible and tragic accident two people were buried and killed by a roof avalanche. The investigators think that they were working to remove snow from around their summer home.
Here's a quote from the report:
There are no witnesses to the accident. This description is based on observations of rescuers, and the best guess of the investigators. Two people went to inspect a summer home. They intended to do some snow removal around the home and carried large scoop shovels. The house has a northeast facing deck that looks over the Rio Grande River. The roof does not extend over the deck. They circled the house and were walking on snow piled on the deck (depth above the short deck railing) when the entire northeast facing roof released. They most likely had little time to react to the avalanche. The edge of the roof was 1 to 2 feet away from them and a little above waist high. They either leapt for safety off the deck or were immediately knocked off the deck and both buried prone with their heads downhill in the direction of the avalanche flow. They were not carried downhill in the avalanche flow. They were buried where they fell or leapt off the deck.
Link to the full report on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center:
http://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=121&accfm=inv
My heart goes out to their families.
I am posting this as yet another reminder to us all of the power behind even a small avalanche. In this terrible and tragic accident two people were buried and killed by a roof avalanche. The investigators think that they were working to remove snow from around their summer home.
Here's a quote from the report:
There are no witnesses to the accident. This description is based on observations of rescuers, and the best guess of the investigators. Two people went to inspect a summer home. They intended to do some snow removal around the home and carried large scoop shovels. The house has a northeast facing deck that looks over the Rio Grande River. The roof does not extend over the deck. They circled the house and were walking on snow piled on the deck (depth above the short deck railing) when the entire northeast facing roof released. They most likely had little time to react to the avalanche. The edge of the roof was 1 to 2 feet away from them and a little above waist high. They either leapt for safety off the deck or were immediately knocked off the deck and both buried prone with their heads downhill in the direction of the avalanche flow. They were not carried downhill in the avalanche flow. They were buried where they fell or leapt off the deck.
Link to the full report on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center:
http://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=121&accfm=inv
My heart goes out to their families.
