Telemark champ recovering after tough break

It's been a wild couple of weeks for telemarking maestro Nick DeVore.

He was on top of the world April 16 after hiking up and skiing down Pyramid Peak. The native son of Aspen became one of the few skiers (and maybe the first telemarker) ever to ski the 14,018-foot peak from its summit. DeVore hiked the mountain in the dead of night, without light, relying on the full moon to guide him. After enduring high winds and a blizzard at the top, when morning came he carved glorious turns with the sun high in the sky.

“After staring up at her daunting spires and slopes for years, watching the weather dance around her magnificent beauty ... I finally skied Pyramid Peak this morning,” he wrote in a note to his friends. “It was truly a dream come true, and very scary. Pyramid is a seriously burly mountain, stoked!!”

Fast-forward thirteen days and the mood was decidedly different for the professional telemarker.

He was no longer on top of the world but partially buried underneath an avalanche.

According to the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, DeVore and a group of friends snowmobiled over Aspen Mountain and Richmond Ridge to Taylor Pass to reach the backcountry M&M Chutes.

“Mountain Rescue Aspen staged three teams of two, at the bottom of Express Creek. Flight For Life was able to land on the ridge, just a couple hundred yards from the victim,” Pitkin County Sheriff's Deputy Rene Rayton reported. “[Mountain rescue Aspen] sent two teams up Express Creek on snowmobiles. Flight For Life was able to reach the victim, and packaged him in a [sled]. The victim was carried to the helicopter, and Flight For Life transported him to Aspen Valley Hospital.”

The avalanche, estimated between 550 to 600 feet, snapped DeVore's femur.

“Well, it's official. I'm laying down in my hospital bed with a broken femur, they have actually already fixed it with a titanium rod and a few screws,” DeVore wrote in a new message to friends, posted on Facebook. “A small wet pocket ripped out as I jumped a cornice into this steep but short line, I almost had it but it sucked me in and sent my flying toward a protruding boulder where I broke my femur. I tomahawked and rolled and slid with the wet slide until I finally came to a stop and was just able to remove the snow from around my face, only my head was popping out. The pain was far beyond what I have experienced. After about two hours the helicopter came in a took me to Aspen Valley Hospital where I will be chilling for a while ...”

The accident marked at least the second serious one for DeVore this season. In December, a powder day at Aspen Highlands ended with DeVore cracking his shoulder blade and bruising his lung. He reportedly hit a hidden rock that jettisoned him head-first into more snow-covered rocks.

Despite it all, DeVore will no doubt be back in action again.

He has been heralded as the best telemark skier in the world by Skiing Magazine after winning the 2008 Telemark Freeskiing World Championship and other accolades. In the summers, he operates a telemark camp in Portillo, Chile.

River Name / Location	Stream flow, ft3/s	Gage height ft
Gore Creek
At Upper Station, Near I-70 Twin Bridges	n/a	4 ft
Booth Creek	n/a	4 ft
Abv Red Sandstone Creek At Vail	199	6 ft
At Mouth Near Minturn	225	7 ft
Beaver Creek
At Avon	21	2 ft
Lake Creek
Near Edwards	79	1 ft
Cross Creek
Near Minturn	98	4 ft
Homestake Creek
At Gold Park	127	5 ft
Eagle River
East Fork Eagle River Near Climax	n/a	2 ft
At Red Cliff	30	3 ft
Near Minturn	234	4 ft
Wastewater Treatment Plant At Avon	671	5 ft
Below Gypsum	826	5 ft
Colorado River
Near Kremmling	402	4 ft
Near Dotsero	1,620	3 ft
Below Glenwood Springs	3,080	5 ft
Near Cameo	3,740	6 ft
Below Grand Valley Div Nr Palisade	2,160	5 ft
Near Colorado-utah State Line	4,080	4 ft
Near Cisco, Ut	4,100	3 ft
At Lees Ferry, Az	12,100	9 ft
Near Grand Canyon, Az	12,000	9 ft
Yuma Main Canal Ww At Yuma, Az	997	10 ft
Roaring Fork River
Abv Lost Man Cr Near Aspen	n/a	n/a ft
Ab Difficult C Nr Aspen	53	1 ft
Near Aspen	77	1 ft
Near Emma	464	6 ft
At Glenwood Springs	1,150	3 ft
Hunter Creek
Near Aspen	57	2 ft
At Aspen	49	4 ft
Frying Pan River
Near Ruedi	111	2 ft
Crystal River
Abv Avalanche Crk, Near Redstone	610	2 ft
Arkansas River
Ef Arkansas R At Us Highway 24, Nr Leadville	46	3 ft
Near Leadville	85	5 ft
Below Empire Gulch Near Malta	156	3 ft
Below Granite	453	4 ft
Near Nathrop	451	4 ft
At Parkdale	469	3 ft