The Colorado Avalanche Information Center released its full accident report on the March 7 avalanche south of Ptarmigan Pass in Eagle County near Vail Pass that killed a Silverthorne man.

The slide killed David Pickett-Heaps, 58, who arrived at the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area around 7 a.m. March 7, according to the report. From there, Pickett-Heaps rode a snowmobile to access ski terrain. Other recreators saw Pickett-Heaps around 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and the second time he was seen, he was heading to the Boss Basin area south of Ptarmigan Pass.

The report stated Pickett-Heaps parked his snowmobile at the top of a ridge and may have skied a low-angled slope close to the snowmobile before moving to the slope that eventually avalanched. He made one ski descent down the slope that eventually avalanched and set a skin track back to the ridge for a second run.

Pickett-Heaps’ second descent was to the west of his first, according to the report. The upper portion of the slope is less than 30 degrees, but it gets steeper as it goes. Pickett-Heaps was alone, so the report stated there is no way to determine where he was on the steeper slope when the avalanche released. The avalanche buried him near the toe of the debris, and only the tip of one of his skis was visible, which the report described as “partially buried – critical.”

A news release from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center stated Pickett-Heaps triggered the avalanche. 

“The hard slab released on a buried weak layer, stepped down to the ground, and pulled out the entire season’s snowpack,” the release stated. “The avalanche was about 400 feet wide, with a crown face ranging from 1 to 3 feet deep.”

One of Pickett-Heaps’ family members reported him missing around 11:30 p.m., and responders found his car in the parking lot shortly after. Summit County Rescue Group members searched overnight, finding Pickett-Heaps’ snowmobile around 4 a.m. Vail Mountain Rescue arrived to assist and searched the area with a drone after talking to people staying in a hut who had seen Pickett-Heaps headed toward the Boss Basin area. 

Thermal imaging on the drone helped rescuers locate Pickett-Heaps around 6 a.m., and around 8 a.m., a Flight for Life helicopter dropped off two searchers and an avalanche rescue dog, who found Pickett-Heaps buried with his head about a foot under the snow’s surface. They excavated him but found no signs of life.

Comments from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in the report emphasized that traveling alone in the backcountry is more dangerous than traveling in a group, stating solo travelers accounted for 23% of backcountry deaths over a five-year period. 

The center stated it does not know if having a partner would have changed what happened to Pickett-Heaps, but it stated that because of his burial depth, lack of signs of trauma and the fact his skis were on with toe pieces in downhill mode, “there is a reasonable chance that a fast and efficient companion rescue could have produced a different outcome.”

Pickett-Heaps did not have a transmitting avalanche rescue transceiver, the comments stated, but he did have two transceivers in the off position in his backpack. 

The slope that avalanched was not complex or extremely steep, the comments stated, but it does end in a flat bench, which allowed avalanche debris to form a deep pile at the bottom of the slope. That meant it buried Pickett-Heaps despite having a “relatively short vertical fall.”