CAIC Report Details First Fatal Avalanche of 2025-26 Season Near Vail Pass

A solo backcountry skier was buried and killed in a persistent slab avalanche near Vail Pass on March 7. The CAIC's final accident report highlights the role of terrain traps, solo travel, and a season-long weak snowpack.

Eagle County, Colorado — David Pickett-Heaps, 58, of Silverthorne, was killed on March 7 after triggering a hard slab avalanche while skiing alone in the Boss Basin area south of Ptarmigan Pass near Vail Pass. His death is the first avalanche fatality of the 2025-26 winter season in Colorado.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) released its final accident report on March 13, detailing the sequence of events that led to Pickett-Heaps' burial and the multi-agency overnight search that followed.

What happened

Pickett-Heaps arrived at the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area around 7:00 AM and used a snowmobile to access backcountry ski terrain. A group of skiers staying at the nearby Fowler-Hilliard hut encountered him around 11:00 AM on a skin track near Resolution Bowl. He was last seen heading toward Boss Basin at approximately 1:15 PM.

He parked his snowmobile at the top of a ridge northwest of Point 11860 and skied one descent down the northeast-facing slope that would later avalanche. He skinned back to the ridge for a second run.

On that second descent, skiing to the west of his initial tracks, Pickett-Heaps triggered the avalanche. Because he was alone, investigators could not determine exactly where he was on the slope when it released. The slide buried him near the toe of the debris with only the tip of one ski visible above the surface.

The search and rescue

A family member reported Pickett-Heaps overdue around 11:30 PM that evening. The Summit County Sheriff's Office confirmed his vehicle was still in the Vail Pass parking lot. Members of Summit County Rescue Group searched through the night and located his snowmobile on the ridge around 4:00 AM. Vail Mountain Rescue arrived shortly after.

Rescuers spoke with the group at the Fowler-Hilliard hut, who confirmed Pickett-Heaps had been heading toward Boss Basin that afternoon. Summit County Rescue Group deployed a drone equipped with thermal imaging to search the area around the parked snowmobile. Around 6:00 AM, the drone pilot identified the avalanche and ski tracks entering the debris field.

At approximately 8:00 AM on March 8, Flight for Life dropped two searchers and an avalanche rescue dog near the toe of the debris. The dog alerted to an area within minutes, and the handler probed and struck Pickett-Heaps on the first attempt. His head was buried approximately one foot below the snow surface. The two rescuers partially excavated him and found no signs of life.

Additional teams were brought in by Flight for Life to complete the recovery.

Snowpack and forecast conditions

The 2025-26 winter had historically low snowfall heading into March. The Copper Mountain SNOTEL station, located five miles northeast of the accident site, reported just 7.8 inches of snow water equivalent for the season on March 7 — only 65% of the 30-year median. The shallow snowpack and extended dry periods through January created widespread weak layers of faceted grains.

Those weak layers were then buried by a series of storms beginning in mid-February and continuing into early March. Warm temperatures during the stormy period settled the newer storm snow but preserved the instability below. On the day of the accident, Copper Mountain reported nine inches of new snow.

The CAIC's forecast for the Vail Pass area on March 7 rated the avalanche danger at Considerable (Level 3 of 5) near and above treeline. The primary problem was persistent slab avalanches on northwest through northeast and east-facing slopes. The forecast summary warned that avalanches breaking on buried weak layers would be difficult to survive and called for careful planning and conservative terrain choices.

Why this matters: terrain traps and solo travel

The CAIC report emphasized two factors that shaped the outcome of this accident: the terrain and the decision to travel alone.

The slope itself was not particularly complex or extremely steep. But it ended in a flat bench that acted as a terrain trap, allowing avalanche debris to pile 4 to 9 feet deep at the bottom despite the slide running only 180 vertical feet. That deep debris buried Pickett-Heaps critically even from a relatively small avalanche.

Terrain traps are features where the consequences of even a small avalanche are amplified. Gullies, cliff bands, creek beds, and flat benches below steep slopes can turn a survivable slide into a deep burial. This accident is a stark example.

Pickett-Heaps was traveling alone. He carried two avalanche transceivers in his backpack, but both were turned off. A transceiver worn and transmitting would not have saved him while traveling solo, but it would have made the search shorter. It is also possible that other groups in the area could have found him if they detected a transmitting beacon or searched the fresh debris.

CAIC investigators noted that given the depth of his burial, the lack of traumatic injuries, and the condition of his equipment — skis still on with toe pieces in downhill mode — a fast, well-executed companion rescue may have produced a different result. Between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 seasons, solo travelers accounted for roughly 23% of Colorado's avalanche fatalities, with at least one solo death every year.

Broader context

Pickett-Heaps' death came during a particularly active weekend for avalanche incidents across Colorado's northern mountains. The CAIC reported a spike in activity following the early March storm cycle, with close calls reported from Berthoud Pass to the Mosquito Range near Alma. Through March 8, the CAIC had recorded 39 avalanches involving 45 backcountry travelers this season, with 17 burials.

Colorado had gone the entire winter without a fatal avalanche through the end of February, a stretch not seen in 22 years. The previous two seasons each saw three avalanche fatalities, well below the long-term average of roughly six per year.

Pickett-Heaps was an experienced outdoorsman who had lived in Summit County for years. He grew up in Boulder and worked as a regional elevator inspector for the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments. His family described him as adventurous but calculated in his approach to risk.