CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Two backcountry skiers have died after getting caught in an avalanche near Crested Butte.
According to a release from the Mt. Crested Butte Police Department, 27-year-old Owen Green and 37-year-old Michael Goerne were reported overdue from an expedition in the East Brush Creek area of Gunnison County just before 8 p.m. Saturday.
Crested Butte Search and Rescue sent a team to the area and found tracks that led to a fresh avalanche near an area known as Death Pass. Faint beacon signals were located in the slide area, but searchers determined conditions were too adverse to conduct a recovery operation that night.
On Sunday, a team of six search and rescue members were flown to the scene by helicopter, while five or six more came by ground. The team included representatives of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Crested Butte Avalanche Center, along with three Crested Butte Mountain Resort Ski Patrol members.
The air transport team quickly found the two men's bodies as their beacon signals were transmitting.
By around 3 p.m., their bodies had been recovered.
The two were training for the Grand Traverse Race, a backcountry ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen and the end of March.
Green was a sales specialist with Snowmass Tourism.
They both volunteered as lacrosse coaches at Aspen High School. Per CHSSA website, Goerne was the Class 4A coach of the year in 2015, the year AHS won a lacrosse championship.