GEORG-FC

Five backcountry snowboarders are confirmed dead in Colorado's deadliest avalanche since 1962.

The avalanche at Loveland Pass on U.S. Highway 6 struck about 1 p.m., the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office announced Saturday evening.

The sheriff's office said there was one confirmed survivor — one member of the group was able to drag himself out and call for help.

He said the survivor was up and walking around. No information has been released about the five victims — no information regarding name, age or gender. It was unclear whether they were still buried.

Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger said his office was notified about 2 p.m. The avalanche occurred near the Loveland Ski Area, but outside its boundaries, he said.

However, the sheriff confirmed the parties were equipped with proper safety equipment, including avalanche beacons.

The slide measured about 200 meters (about 219 yards) wide and 350 meters (about 383 yards) long. The fracture line was about 8 feet deep, officials said.

Teams from Alpine Search & Rescue, Summit County Rescue Group, Clear Creek Fire Authority, as well as Clear Creek and Summit counties' sheriff's officials, were on the scene.

Krueger said additional information would most likely not be available until Sunday morning.

Colorado has now seen 11 avalanche deaths in the 2012-13 season, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Ten of those killed were skiing, snowboarding or snowshoeing outside ski area boundaries.

CAIC forecaster Spencer Logan said there have been weak layers in Colorado's snowpack since early January, and forecasters have said they're seeing the worst avalanche danger in 30 years.

A snowboarder was killed in an avalanche Thursday in Avalanche Bowl south of Vail Pass. He was making runs with two friends after they were dropped off at the top of the bowl by a friend with a snowmobile.

"Our last series of storms made them more active again," Logan said. "Over the last week and a half, that area got over 18 inches of snow, so if you melted that that would be 2 inches of water, so that is a heavy load."

U.S. Route 6 at Loveland Pass, elevation 11,990 feet, was closed by the Colorado Department of Transportation at 3:16 p.m, just as many skiers were headed home from nearby Arapahoe Basin ski resort.

Lisa Clarke Devore, who was headed back to Denver from the resort, told the Associated Press she saw a fire truck and ambulance on the pass, as well two search dogs headed into the area of the slide. She says she saw several ambulances, including one towing snowmobiles, headed that way.

U.S. avalanche deaths climbed steeply around 1990 to an average of around 24 a year as new gear became available for backcountry travel. Until then, avalanches rarely claimed more than a handful of lives each season in records going back to 1950.

Seven people were killed Jan. 21, 1962, when an avalanche buried two residences at Twin Lakes near Independence Pass. Storms with wind gusts up to 70 mph preceded the slide.