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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Early-season avalanches claiming victims

Larry Dowd ( back center ) and James Mittelstadt ( rear right ) of Rathdrum, Idaho learn about avalanche beacons in an Avalanche Awareness Class during a demonstration at the Fourth of July snowmobile area today.  (Christopher Anderson / The Spokesman-Review)
Larry Dowd ( back center ) and James Mittelstadt ( rear right ) of Rathdrum, Idaho learn about avalanche beacons in an Avalanche Awareness Class during a demonstration at the Fourth of July snowmobile area today. (Christopher Anderson / The Spokesman-Review)

WINTER SPORTS -- The season's first big snow storms had barely blanketed the mountains before this year's first avalanche deaths were recorded in the West.

Three people already have been killed.

On Sunday, a Colorado backcountry skier died in a 15-foot avalanche in Clear Creek County between Denver and Breckenridge.

An in-bounds slide Nov. 22 at Colorado's Wolf Creek Ski Area killed the ski patrol director.

A Nov. 27 slide triggered by a snowmobiler on the Utah-Wyoming border killed a 54-year-old man.

Good snow coverage always makes the lure of backcountry skiing, boarding and snowmobiling nearly irresistible. But try to play it smart.

Avalanche advisories, updated weekly, are a click away on the S-R's Outdoors web page.

Avalanche awareness classes are being scheduled in the Inland Northwest. Check the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center website for updates and schedules for avalanche education classes.



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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