Officials: Connecticut man among 3 climbers killed in avalanche

A 53-year-old Connecticut man was among three climbers killed on a peak in central Washington after they were swept away by an avalanche Sunday, according to officials.

The incident marks the deadliest avalanche event in the U.S. so far this winter, according to an avalanche accident database.

The Sheriff ’s Office for Chelan County did not identify the individuals who died. The agency said the others killed were a 60-year-old New York woman and a 66-year-old New Jersey man.

The group of six climbers had set out on Sunday to climb Colchuck Peak, an 8,705-foot mountain in the Stuart Range, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The climbers were navigating the peak’s northeastern Couloir, a narrow gully in the mountain face, when the lead climber “triggered an avalanche,” the release said.

Four members of the group were swept away down the mountain around 500 feet. The sheriff’s office said the three were killed by “trauma sustained in the fall.” The fourth climber caught in the snow slip, a 56-yearold New York man, was left with non-life-threatening injuries. He was able to hike back to base camp with the other two surviving members of his party, also from New York and New Jersey.

A member of the group who had remained back at base camp while the others took part in the climb was sent for help.

Search-and-rescue personnel responded Monday and made it as far as the mountain’s base camp before they decided the risk of avalanche was too high to try to recover the bodies of the climbers. The surviving members of the group were escorted by rescuers back to the trailhead, the sheriff ’s office said.

The sheriff ’s office said rescuers did not return to the scene on Tuesday. A recovery plan is still being developed.

So far in the 2022-23 season, nine people have died due to avalanches in the U.S., including Sunday’s accident, according to tracking by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Last season, 17 people were killed. Avalanche fatalities have dropped since 37 people, mostly skiers, died during the 2020-21 season.