Dog Goes Missing After Avalanche and Is Presumed Dead, Found Wandering Snowy Mountainside Days Later

By Amanda Thomason March 16, 2022 at 12:35pm

A skier and snowboarder were out near Monarch Pass in Chaffee County, Colorado, last Thursday with their dog. At some point the skier triggered an avalanche, but he deployed the airbag he was wearing and survived although he was partially buried.

After getting out of the snow himself, he was able to find the snowboarder. She, too, was wearing an airbag but hadn’t been able to deploy it and was also partially buried.

Neither of them was hurt, but once they were free and had assessed the situation, they realized their dog was nowhere to be found. Even after searching, there was no sign of their four-legged friend.

Deputy Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center Brian Lazar told KDVR that the two were blessed to be alive and that the situation “could have gone in a much worse direction quite easily.”

“We did have some search and rescue members visit the site yesterday and also didn’t see any signs of tracks,” he said of the missing dog.

Without any sighting, everyone assumed the dog must have been buried alive and perished.

“Yesterday, 2 skiers and a dog were caught in a large avalanche near Monarch Pass,” the Crested Butte Avalanche Center posted on March 11. “This was a near treeline northeasterly facing slope, that may have also had additional wind-loading. This is a great example of some of the most concerning terrain in the CBAC forecast area as well.”

But on Saturday night, someone in the area spotted a loose dog.

“Are there any photos of this dog?” Mariah Cassaro commented on the Crested Butte Avalanche Center’s post. “I found a dog on monarch pass today, less than a mile from this avalanche.”

It turned out that the large grayish dog Cassaro had found was the missing pup, who had inexplicably survived days and nights on the slopes in frigid temperatures.

“A happy ending to the Monarch avalanche that we shared a few days ago,” the Crested Butte Avalanche Center shared on March 13. “The dog that was presumed to be buried showed up at the trailhead last night!”

Lazar also recognized how amazing the dog’s survival was.

“Miraculously, the dog survived and made it back to Monarch Pass after spending a couple nights out in very, very cold weather,” he said. “Of course, we’ll never know exactly what happened to this dog. Only the dog will know that story.”

Many people urge dog owners not to take their furry friends — even the most athletic, adventurous ones — onto the slopes, as no dog is a match for an avalanche. Lazar added that dogs shouldn’t wear transceivers, either, as in an emergency situation rescuers want to be able to focus on human victims first.

Lazar and other experts urge adventurers to be aware of the conditions before heading out and educate themselves about avalanches, so they can be prepared for the inevitable.

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