Snowmass skiers in closed areas arrested
Snowmass Village police arrested three men on Sunday for skiing in an area that was closed because of avalanche danger just an hour and a half before a Mountain Rescue Aspen volunteer died in an avalanche in Maroon Bowl, police said Thursday.
A ski patroller on a lift saw two men about 1 p.m. on the Rock Island run and confirmed the area was closed because of possible avalanches and went into the area and confronted the men, said Sgt. Dave Heivly. The three men admitted to ducking a rope to get into the area, but were cooperative, he said.
All three men — Theren Raufman, 26, of Santa Monica, California; Justin Jones, 24, of Palos Verdes, California; and Christopher Corley, 27, of Carbondale — were each given a $250 ticket and kicked off the mountain, Heivly said. John Galvin of MRA was killed about 2:30 p.m. Sunday in an avalanche in Maroon Bowl, located next to Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands.
On Monday, officers arrested a fourth man for skiing in a closed area, this time in Snowmass’ KT Gully area, which was closed for avalanche mitigation, Heivly said. Ski patrollers were using explosives in the area about 2:30 p.m. and had an explosive ready to go when they saw Joshua Attenborough, 22, of Aspen enter the area, he said.
Attenborough also admitted ducking a rope to get into the area, but told ski patrollers he thought the area was simply closed for the day and didn’t know about the explosives, Heivly said. He also was ticketed and kicked off the mountain.
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