Overview
- Search teams found Pickett-Heaps dead in avalanche debris around sunrise Sunday after he was reported missing the previous evening.
- The slide occurred in Boss Basin on Resolution Creek south of Ptarmigan Pass, a few miles west of Copper Mountain.
- CAIC says this is the first avalanche fatality of the 2025–2026 season and the incident remains under investigation.
- Summit County Rescue Group, Vail Mountain Rescue, and the Summit and Eagle County sheriff’s offices responded, with Flight for Life assisting the search.
- Investigators reported a roughly two-foot-deep avalanche near treeline on a northeast-facing slope with 33–36 degree starting zones following 6–8 inches of local snowfall and heavier totals in nearby high country.