Berthoud Pass avalanche kills third backcountry traveler of the 2024-25 season
The slide on an area called The Fingers above the Berthoud Pass parking lot claimed the life of a 50-year-old man identified by friends as renowned river surfer Nathan Ginn
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A 50-year-old elementary schoolteacher and renowned river surfer died in an avalanche on Saturday above Berthoud Pass.
Grand County rescuers were called to Berthoud Pass around 4:45 p.m.following calls that a skier had been involved in an avalanche in an area called The Fingers, just east of U.S. 40 above the pass parking lot.
The avalanche on the steep northwest facing slope was large, persistent slab, according to an initial report by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The avalanche death is the third in Colorado this winter and the second fatality in less than a week. A 41-year-old Crested Butte snowboarder was killed in a Feb. 20 slide on The Nose west of Silverton in the Mineral Creek basin. A slide on The Nose in February 2021 killed three skiers from Eagle.
Friends identified the man killed in the Berthoud Pass slide as Nathan Ginn, an art teacher for elementary school student who was well known at Colorado’s river surf waves, especially at River Run Park on the South Platte in Sheridan and Salida’s Scout Wave.
A post on the SuperCriticalFlows.com river surfing website said he volunteered for the Chill Foundation, teaching kids to river surf and skateboard. Ginn’s YouTube channel has several videos showing him powder surfing on Berthoud Pass. Powsurfing is riding a board similar to a snowboard, but without bindings. It is unclear what Ginn was riding when he was killed in the avalanche on Saturday.
“Nathan had a calming effect with the children he would work with and would easily gain respect and cooperation from the youth he would teach both in the school setting and in the waves and skateparks,” reads the post on the river surfing website. “Nathan also had an infectious smile and personality. His main goal was to make sure everyone else felt welcome and were having as good of a time as he was.”
Grand County rescuers at 2:25 p.m. on Saturday responded to a call of an avalanche on Gravel Mountain near Grand Lake, an area popular with snowmobilers. An initial accident report from the avalanche center said “numerous people were climbing and jumping off the cornices of Gravel Mountain” when a slide caught four snowmobilers who were recovered without any injuries.
