Colorado’s first-ever criminal charges following an avalanche could be slippery slope for backcountry travelers
Two snowboarders reported the avalanche they caused in March above the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels and cooperated with the investigation. Now, their statements and helmet-cam video are being used against them.
The two snowboarders talk about snow conditions and route selection as they drop in, one at a time. Gusting wind is blowing snow across the ridge as they wind between reefy rocks.
“Avalanche!” yells Tyler DeWitt as he cranks to a stop below his friend Evan Hannibal.
The two watch the slide — captured on video by Hannibal’s helmet camera — grow from a small slough of wind-deposited snow into a deep avalanche that buries the service road above the west portal of the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels with 20 feet of snow.
Posted from The Colorado Sun
