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Two buried, two killed: Brutal weekend claims lives in local backcountry

A massive slide in the Maroon Bowl off of Aspen Highlands killed a skier on Sunday.
Colorado Avalanche Information Center
A massive slide in the Maroon Bowl off of Aspen Highlands killed a skier on Sunday.

Update: The Pitkin County Coroner's office on Monday released the name of the skier who died in the Maroon Bowl slide. He was 54-year-old Gábor Házas of Budapest, Hungary. The precise cause of death is pending an autopsy, and the manner of death has been ruled an accident.

Two skiers and a snowboarder were caught by an avalanche in Upper Rapid Creek near Marble on Friday. Joel Shute, a 36-year-old resident of Glenwood Springs, was buried and killed by the slide. Authorities recovered his body on Saturday.

Just before 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol contacted Pitkin County communications to report a significant slide in the Maroon Bowl that broke just below the hiking trail to the top of Highlands Bowl.

Three skiers were involved in the avalanche. One member of the party was uninjured and able to dig out and start resuscitation efforts on another member of the party who had been buried.

A third member of the party was able to hike back up the slope towards Highlands and was eventually pulled back into the ski area using a rope that had been dropped for aid.

A Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control helicopter eventually lifted the uninjured skier and deceased skier out of Maroon Bowl.

An investigative team from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center plans to assess the site of Sunday's slide on Monday in order to compile a full report on the incident.

KDNK will continue to monitor these stories as more details become available.

Morgan is KDNK's News Director. He comes to KDNK with public radio passion and experience. He was a news host, reporter, and operations/programming director at KAJX-Aspen, and has extensive experience working in municipal government.