The dangerous duality of Colorado's landscape has always been there; incredible snowfall creates magnificent playgrounds for adventure-seeking individuals, but within those playgrounds lays inherent risk. Cassy Gates was thrown front and center into that risk just last week, as she went snowmobiling with her boyfriend Daniel Vigeant and some of their friends on the Grand Plateau in Grand Junction.
She said the crew went over the avalanche forecast for the day there was a fresh layer of snow which they knew meant an increased risk of avalanches but picked the spot they were going in part because of the low angles on the majority of the routes they were taking, lowering risk. They tested their avalanche gear, checked to make sure they had equipment and headed off for a fun day.
Gates said she reached a point where she chose to go a different route than the rest of her friends. She said that's where things started to go wrong. That inability to judge the slope she was on landed her on something far steeper than she meant to get into.
She felt it before she saw it. Unbeknownst to me that is when the whole slope broke. I got buried and pulled down the hill, my sled was fully buried too. All the while, boyfriend Daniel Vigeant and friends were keeping a close eye on her and went "full throttle" towards the slide that had buried Gates at that point. That tiny part of the boot sticking out, along with the beacon she had on was eventually what helped Vigeant and friends to find her just minutes after she was buried.
He regrets the mistake of not having his shovel with him at that very moment, but the other avalanche safety gear he and their friends had on them helped to zero in on Gates. They were able to get Gates out of the snow where she was plunged at a degree angle head first. They found her unconscious. A terrifying moment for everyone involved.
