RoschetzkyIstockPhoto/iStock(TAOS, N.M.) — A skier has died after getting trapped in an avalanche at Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico on Thursday, a ski resort official said Friday morning.
A second person was injured in the incident.
Both men were trapped for 22 minutes after the avalanche sent snow pummeling down a mountain around 11:45 a.m. local time on Thursday, Chris Stagg, vice president of Taos Ski Valley, Inc., told ABC News.
Rescuers dug the skiers out and transported them to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, Stagg said.
Their names have not been released.
After the avalanche, rescuers searched for other people possibly buried under the snow, ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT reported. The snow is so deep in some areas that probes being used to locate people cannot reach the bottom, Stagg said.
It is unclear what triggered the avalanche, which occurred on the K3 shoot off Kachina Peak, the ski resort wrote on Twitter.
The lift for Kachina Peak just opened on Wednesday, according to The Taos News. The lift rises to about 1,100 feet to take expert skiers and snowboarders to the top of the mountain, the newspaper reported.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.