Natural Disasters

Jerome Boulay was buried in snow for hours but survived deadliest avalanche in fifty years

Earlier this week, we shared the shocking news of an avalanche near Loveland Pass that killed five people taking part in a fundraising event for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, with a sixth, Jerome Boulay, somehow surviving after being buried in the snow for four hours. Now, the CAIC has ... More >>

Mark McCarron ID'd as victim in Vail avalanche, anger over marijuana mention

On Friday, we reported about the tragic death of a snowboarder in an avalanche near Vail Pass; see our original coverage below. The victim has now been identified as Mark McCarron, 38, of Westminster. As part of its original release, the Eagle Police Department noted that McCarron and friends accom ... More >>

Photos: Joe Timlin, Rick Gaukel among five victims in deadliest avalanche since 1962

On Saturday, the Colorado snowboarding community was still reeling from the avalanche death of Mark McCarron (announced by authorities along with a controversial marijuana reference) when another tragedy struck -- this one with an even greater loss of life. Five people died near Loveland in what is ... More >>

Ski area death of Patsy Hileman shouldn't count toward resort fatalities, industry group says

Update: In a post yesterday about ski area deaths thus far in the 2012-13 season (see it below), we noted that resorts have established rules to determine whether or not fatal accidents count toward the total. As evidence, note that Colorado Ski Country USA disagrees with the claim that three people ... More >>

Photos, videos: Waldo Canyon fire finally 100 percent contained

Update: At long last comes the announcement residents of Colorado Springs have been awaiting since June 23, when the Waldo Canyon fire flared to life. The blaze, which destroyed 346 homes and took the lives of Barbara and William Everett, age 73 and 74, respectively, is finally 100 percent containe ... More >>

High Park fire update: Mishawaka Amphitheatre reopening symbol of blaze's defeat

Update: The High Park fire near Fort Collins is 100 percent contained, and while it's not officially dead yet, the blaze is no longer the threat it was to life, limb and property. A symbol of its de facto defeat? The reopening tomorrow of the Mishawaka Amphitheatre, a beloved landmark that managed ... More >>

Wildfire victim benefits include IKEA discount, yoga classes

Colorado's urge to do something, anything, to help those affected by the wildfires has spread like, well, wildfire. Caravans of cars have descended on Colorado Springs, heading right past that IKEA sign on I-25, with piles of donated goods for victims of the Waldo Canyon fire. If the state were fi ... More >>

Flagstaff fire update: Stuck at 90 percent contained, some open space areas still closed

Update: The Boulder Office of Emergency Management was so confident the Flagstaff fire outside of town was a thing of the past that a so-called "final update" was posted on Saturday afternoon. But despite predictions of 100 percent containment before the weekend was done, Flagstaff (the lesser of th ... More >>

High Park fire update: 85 percent containment, many subdivisions reopened

Update: As those living near the Waldo Canyon fire outside Colorado Springs were plunged into terror (347 homes confirmed burned, at least one death), the people who've been suffering through the High Park fire fifteen miles from Fort Collins for three long, exhausting weeks may finally be getting a ... More >>

Waldo Canyon fire update: One death, 347 homes destroyed, 20K threatened

Update:Firefighters made progress against the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs yesterday -- enough to get a better sense of the destruction that took place the previous day. The number of homes destroyed had been estimated at north of 300, and that proved all too accurate. Thus far, 347 homes ... More >>

Flagstaff fire in Boulder update: 100 percent containment by the weekend?

Update: Given the horrors inflicting on the residents of Colorado Springs by the Waldo Canyon fire, and those living in and around Fort Collins by the High Park fire, Boulderites should be counting their blessings. The Flagstaff fire near the town limits, which seemed so threatening just a few days ... More >>

Photos: The people of the Waldo Canyon fire

"We will rebuild Majestic Drive." These are the words of Terry Rector, a Colorado Springs lawyer who gathered with a number of others who also lived on Majestic (map here), before the area was devastated by the Waldo Canyon fire. Yesterday, photographer Brandon Marshall spent the day in the Spring ... More >>

Colorado tourism hopes go up in smoke

A week ago, the state's tourism office announced that 2011 had been a record-breaking year. And 2012 will break all kinds of records, too -- but not the ones boosters like to shatter. Most disappointing ski season. Rafting industry drying up. And the rest of the summer tourism season going up in smo ... More >>

Climate change contributes to wildfires, makes them hard to fight, scientists say

Leading climate-change scientists say the chances of humans stopping the wildfires raging across Colorado aren't good. "These wildfires, when they become wind-driven, are like a nuclear bomb going off, and humans are not going to stop them any more than they stopped the hurricanes in Gulf Coast," ... More >>

Garrett Spencer, record-setting 19th Colorado ski area death, being laid to rest

This morning at 10:30 a.m. in Hesston, Kansas, a memorial service will be held for Garrett Spencer, a nineteen year old who died at Wolf Creek Ski Area a few days ago. Spencer's passing either extends a deadly record for ski area deaths in Colorado during a single season or ties it, depending on ho ... More >>

Lower North Fork Fire started by prescribed burn, Forest Service apologizes

The U.S. Forest Service is now admitting that the Lower North Fork Fire near Conifer, which appears to have led to at least two casualties (one woman is still missing), was started by a prescribed burn that got out of control. Meanwhile, Governor John Hickenlooper has suspended such burns until aft ... More >>

Joshua Allen's Copper Mountain death adds another fatality to lethal ski season

Update: Sadly, the number of ski deaths in Colorado this season has grown again. On Sunday, 24-year-old Joshua Allen of Tampa, Florida, was found in the trees of the Elk Run underneath the Outback lift at Keystone and airlifted to Summit Medical Center, where he later died.

Tornado Alley filmmaker Sean Casey on life in the eye of the storm

​Most of us here in Colorado can relate to the rush of skiing down a mountain of fresh powder. But that rush is nothing compared to the heart-stopping, breath-seizing thrill of entering a tornado's destructive vortex of violently rotating winds. But for the past eight years, that was the missi ... More >>

Typhoon

Wednesday, August 10, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

Crocs donates 100,000 pairs of shoes to Japanese earthquake & tsunami victims

​We've made lotsa sport of Niwot-based Crocs, from a 2005 feature that included savage reviews by fashionistas to reports of what Alan Prendergast described as the "brightly hued, comfy-ugly clown shoes" being escalator unfriendly. So our first thought after hearing the company is donating 100 ... More >>

Model rocket allegedly starts Boulder County grass fire, and that's not only burn ban violation

Flickr​The precipitation falling at this writing should put a punctuation mark on the Indian Gulch and Burning Tree fires -- but the moisture isn't enough to end the dry conditions that have prompted multiple local fire bans. Not that everyone's paying attention, judging by not one, not two, b ... More >>

Indian Gulch fire near Golden: Burned acreage increases to 1,502 (VIDEOS)

​Update: The Indian Gulch fire near Golden is a top wildfire priority nationally; at this writing, it's in the number one slot on the feds' Inciweb.org website. And while the winds that were helping to fuel the blaze have died down to a significant degree, they did significant damage, increas ... More >>

Local Japan benefits: Video gaming, taiko drumming and a hip-hop compilation

​If you've been inclined to pitch in for the victims of the Japanese earthquake but haven't known how to do it, there are a few different options this week. One involves playing Rock Band on stage, one involves chip tunes, another involves Taiko drumming and still another is for fans of hip-ho ... More >>

Back in my day: The cold, and five other things we didn't get a day off for

Kids these days.​Well, now I guess I've seen everything. I've been through wars, natural disasters, the inexplicable career of Jimmy Fallon and two or three great depressions, but I never thought I'd see the day when everybody stopped the presses on account of a little cold weather. Why, today ... More >>

Boulder Peewink Mountain fire already contained

9News​The inclusion of the photo at right in a 9News story about a blaze that broke out overnight near Boulder raised concerns of another runaway conflagration like last year's Fourmile Canyon fire. But no: This one consumed just an acre or so before being contained. Before this status was ac ... More >>

Scott Kay, Wolf Creek Ski Patrol director, dies in avalanche

Scott Kay.​Scott Kay, Wolf Creek Ski Patrol director, died in an avalanche early today. The ski area reported thirteen inches of new snow this morning and eighteen inches in the last 48 hours.

Boulder Fourmile Canyon fire update: Will deadly California blaze cut into resources?

From SF ABC7San Bruno blaze.​Last night, the high winds that hit the Fourmile Canyon fire burn area near Boulder didn't exacerbate the situation as feared. As Boulder County public information officer Mike Banuelos says this morning, "Firefighters held the line." But will some of them be sent ... More >>

Art With Heart

Not a Pretty Picture

The Real World Hooters = Classy

MTV is looking for overweight home-schoolers who have been affected by natural disasters for the next season of The Real World -- and it's coming to find them in Denver, which hosted its own cast of seven strangers picked to live in a house in 2006 and 2007. Real World casting directors will be at ... More >>

Colorado is suddenly earthquake central

The blue square on the map represents the location of an earthquake earlier today (click to enlarge).​Earlier today, an earthquake struck near Craig; the U.S. Geological Survey rates it a 3.7 magnitude temblor. That follows a 3.9 magnitude quake near Eads yesterday. So where will nature's ven ... More >>

CSU's Japan earthquake test: best experiment ever

Yesterday, a Colorado State University team led by civil engineering professor John van de Lindt successfully staged a very large-scale test in Miki City, Japan. They've come up with a new approach to building earthquake-proof (or at least more earthquake-proof) buildings, and to see if they're on ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: FEMA trouble

Among the residents who evacuated in the face of a fast-moving fire in Boulder this week was Michael Brown, current consultant and talk-show host, and former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a man who will be forever linked with this remark by President George W. Bush over his ... More >>

Katrina, stark and surreal, in Trouble the Water

Storm Rising

Verne Carlson hunts tornadoes.

The Eye of the Storm

From the bayou to Boulder, Michael Brown's had a heckuva year.

Boulder's Storm Warning

The Skeptic

Celebrated and shunned, CSU's Bill Gray is taking heat in the global-warming debate.

All Wet

Mogwai

Mr. Beast (Matador)

Critical Fatwa

Michael Stipe

Out and About

Fresh at Lotus

Club Scout

Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge

Off Limits

A Real Horse's Ass

Off Limits

Trouble's Bruin

Drink of the Week

Tommy's Mai Tai

Slide Rules

An avalanche buried their friend -- and a Denver trio is still digging out.

Consumed by Fire

On the front lines of the Hayman blaze.

Best Tornado Tours

Storm Chasing Adventure Tours

Swept Away

Six friends headed off for a day of backcountry fun. But then came the fast slide to disaster.