Snowmass, CO – An unidentified 25-year-old man died Tuesday in an avalanche in the sidecountry adjacent to Snowmass Ski Area, the Pitkin County, Colo. sheriff’s department has confirmed.nThe victim, an Aspen, Colo. area seasonal resident, was skiing with two companions in Sands Chute behind the Sneaky’s portion of Snowmass when the avalanche occurred. The skiers were practicing proper backcountry skiing protocol and were skiing the chute one at a time. The victim was the second skier to descend when the slope broke loose.

The victim’s body was located by his companions before they skied out the East Snowmass Creek drainage to contact authorities at 4:06 p.m. Recovery operations were delayed until today due to the late hour and snow instability.

Tuesday’s avalanche death in Snowmass is the fifth this winter in Colorado.