STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Friends and family of a man killed by an avalanche in northwest Colorado's Garfield County remember him as a talented artist, musician and devout Mormon who loved his family.
Steamboat Today reports 55-year-old Jesse Christensen, of Steamboat Springs, was killed in the slide in the remote and rugged Flat Tops Wilderness Area just after noon Tuesday. A friend he was riding snow bikes with survived.
Kim Haggarty, one of Christensen's friends, says "This one's gonna hit a lot of people. It is a huge, huge loss."
Officials with the U.S. Forest Service say Christensen and the other man he was snowbiking with were riding in an area where motorized vehicles are prohibited.
An autopsy is planned for later this week, and the death is being investigated as an accident.
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