One brave dog, who was presumed dead after an avalanche, has been found alive several days later at a trailhead.
An avalanche that was triggered by a skier in Chaffe County, Colorado washed over a skier and snowboarder on Thursday (March 10), with their dog also with them.
The quick-thinking skier deployed their airbag before being partially buried under the crumbling snow, however they lost sight of their four-legged friend amidst the chaos.
Fortunately for the skier and snowboarder, they were uninjured and able to make it out under their own power.
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Brian Lazar, deputy director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, told Fox Colorado: “The second skier down triggered an avalanche, which then washed over the snowboarder.
“This could have gone in a much different direction very easily.”
After looking high and low for the dog after the avalanche, the owners and a search crew had basically given up hope.
They left the scene and presumed the pooch died in the snowslide.
“We did have some search and rescue members visit yesterday, and they didn’t see any signs of tracks,” Lazar said.
Miraculously, however, after several days of being missing, the dog was found at a trailhead of Monarch Pass.
You can imagine that reunion would have been incredibly emotional.
However, this isn’t the first time a pet has been astonishingly rescued after dire circumstances in the Colorado mountains this season.
In December, one video posted on YouTube showed skiers digging out a dog who had been lying underneath snow for 20 minutes after an avalanche.
Despite the positive outcome this time, Lazar reaffirmed that the best course of action when caught in an avalanche was for riders to keep an eye on their pet and only attempt to save them once it's safe to do so.
“We don’t want dogs to wear avalanche transceivers. We want people to be searchable by transceivers and not mixable with potential dogs with transceivers on,” Lazar said.
“Of course, we will never exactly know what happened to this dog. Only the dog will know that story."
That’s one story that this courageously good boy or girl will remember for the rest of their dog years.
Jayden Collins