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Local Victim of Colorado Avalanche

HONESDALE — A man from our area was one of five killed when an avalanche let loose in Colorado over the weekend. Newswatch 16 has learned that Ryan Novak,...

HONESDALE -- A man from our area was one of five killed when an avalanche let loose in Colorado over the weekend.

Newswatch 16 has learned that Ryan Novak, 33, originally from Wayne County, died Saturday.

Novak was a 1999 graduate of Honesdale High School and was living in Boulder, Colorado.

Authorities say the six men were snowboarding outside Denver. Despite wearing proper equipment, only one of the men survived. Workers found that man after he walked to a nearby highway.

The avalanche happened at Loveland Pass, about 50 miles west of Denver at an elevation of 11,990 feet, officials said. It is just east of the popular ski resorts of Breckenridge and Vail.

Also killed in the avalanche were Christopher Peters, 32, from Lakewood; Joseph Timlin, 32, from Gypsum; Ian Lanphere, 36, from Crested Butte; and Rick Gaukel, 33, from Estes Park.

Officials call Saturday's avalanche the deadliest avalanche in Colorado in 50 years.

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