Atlanta native killed in avalanche while skiing in Colorado

CRESTED BUTTE, Co. — Family and friends are remembering an Atlanta native killed in an avalanche in Colorado over the weekend.

Owen Green, 27, was backcountry skiing near Crested Butte, Colorado, when the avalanche happened. Green, and his friend, Michael Goerne, 37, were training for a 40-mile ski race at the time.

Green, who lived in Aspen, grew up in Atlanta and was a lacrosse star at The Lovett School.

"Owen became an All-American lacrosse player and team captain, and his fierce competitiveness led to two Georgia state championships under coach Jim Buczek," his obituary said.

Green graduated in 2009 and went on to play lacrosse at Jacksonville University. In Aspen, he and Goerne coached the Aspen High School lacrosse team.

Green and Goerne were reported missing around 8 p.m. Saturday, according to the Crested Butte Search and Rescue Team.

"At approximately 10 p.m. tracks were discovered leading into a fresh avalanche field near the area known as Death Pass. No tracks exiting the slide were found and faint beacon signals were located in the slide area," according to a post on Facebook. "Shortly after midnight, it was determined conditions were too adverse to conduct a recovery operation."

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The next morning, search and rescue crews were airlifted to the area, where they quickly found Green and Goerne’s bodies in an area referred to as Death Pass.

According to a Facebook post from a friend, “Owen was wearing a GPS device and we could digitally track their progress up Brush Creek… the dots provide a timestamp and elevation. Somewhere ‪between 8:39am and 8:49am‬ they were swept downhill approximately 210 feet.”

Both Green and Goerne were experienced skiers.

“He knew the perils of the back country, and of Death Pass – we talked about it. He had been through there twice. His partner also from Aspen / Snowmass had competed in The Power of Four and an was an experienced back country skier,” according to the same Facebook post.

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