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Skier rescued after going out of bounds at Aspen Mountain late Friday

Staff reports

A skier from Massachusetts was rescued late Friday evening after going out of bounds at Aspen Mountain and getting lost.

The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday morning that the man called ski patrol about 2:30 p.m. Friday and said he was lost near Walsh’s and the Lud’s Lane runs but not hurt. Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol determined the skier was out of bounds and called Mountain Rescue Aspen, which assembled 13 searchers, who were broken up into three groups.

The man was found at 5:30 p.m. about 800 vertical feet below Walsh’s run. It took two hours for a three-person MRA team to get the man to the base. According to the sheriff’s office news release, some of the pitches in the path down were between 30 and 38 degrees.

According the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, avalanche conditions near and below treeline were “considerable” during the time of Friday’s rescue, the news release said. Regarding “considerable” avalanche conditions, considerable means that dangerous avalanche conditions are present, and cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making is essential.