The Silverton Standard & The Miner reports that a 19-year-old man from Durango died Saturday afternoon after tumbling into a stream. Apparently, he had been walking in a snowfield with his father and a dog near Chattanooga, just below Red Mountain Pass, before he fell into the stream.
San Juan County Coroner Keri Metzler identified him as Devon Opalenik on Sunday.
Opalenik’s father’s name was not available.
Metzler said an autopsy is set for Wednesday or Thursday.
“It appears he was on a snowbridge, and it collapsed. He went into the creek and was trapped under snow,” Metzler said.
San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad told the Standard that the Durango teenager who died had “walked up the snowfield and slipped on an incline into water underneath. The dog went in to help him,” Conrad said.
“We were able to recover the young man, and the dog came out alive,” Conrad said.
“Three hours later, he came out the other side,” Conrad said. The dog, a Great Dane-pit bull mix named Zia, emerged 5½ hours later.
The incident was reported about 6 p.m. Saturday.
