5 snowboarders killed in avalanche: Bodies found hours later under the deep snow

5 snowboarders killed in avalanche: Bodies found hours later under the deep snow, Five snowboarders were killed Saturday afternoon after a Colorado avalanche covered them with snow. The snowboarders apparently triggered the avalanche while snowboarding on Colorado's Loveland Pass, according to the New York Times on Saturday, April 2013. It took the search and rescue crews several hours to recover the bodies from the avalanche, which was eight feet deep and about 600 yards wide, according to the Clear Creek County Sheriff, Don Krueger.

Only one out of six snowboarders taken down by the avalanche came out alive. There is no word on the condition of the only person who was rescued. The bodies were located by searchers from an Alpine search and rescue team, Clear Creek County, Summit County and from the Loveland ski resort, reports Kruegar. The bodies were transported to the Clear Creek coroner's office and the victims names were not immediately known.

Authorities were "pretty sure" the snowboarders were the ones that triggered the avalanche in which they perished, said Kruger. It was a busy winter weekend at the ski resort as skiers and snowboarders alike took advantage of the snowfall that came late in the season. A snowstorm that hit the Rocky Mountains earlier in the week made it possible for several of the ski areas in the area to remain open.

Spencer Logan, a forecaster from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said that since early January there have been weak layers in Colorado's snowpack.