2 Skiers Found Dead in Colorado

Authorities say two skiers were killed and three others were injured in a large avalanche in Colorado. The Lake County Office of Emergency Management says seven skiers on Star Mountain near Independence Pass triggered the slide at about 5pm yesterday. Three were hospitalized with injuries that included a broken leg, a broken ankle, and a possible broken rib and collapsed lung. The Lake County Sheriff's Office says search and rescue crews found the bodies of two skiers this afternoon. The avalanche happened near Leadville, which is about 80 miles southwest of Denver.

Officials are warning of deadly conditions after avalanches killed six people this week—two each in Oregon, Utah, and Colorado, CNN reports. "We are seeing very dangerous avalanche conditions developing from basically the New Mexico border north to Wyoming," said the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. With the snowpack "teetering on the brink of critical mass," snowslides are burying roads in 20 feet of debris and taking out old mine buildings and trees, the center said. (More avalanche stories.)