Colorado
Doctor, 67, Dies in Colorado Avalanche
Colorado logged a grim happening on Monday: its first avalanche death of the season. The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that Dr. Peter Harrelson, a 67-year-old longtime Ophir resident, died during a backcountry trip near his hometown. The Montrose Daily Press reports Harrelson had set out to snowboard in the Waterfall Creek area around noon; a neighbor called authorities that evening to flag the fact he hadn’t returned. A search ensued, and Harrelson’s body was discovered Tuesday morning along with evidence that he survived the initial impact.
The Daily Press reports that with high-tech support, searchers managed to locate a hole where it appeared an avalanche victim had been trapped. There was blood near the hole, as well as footprints leading away from it. San Miguel County Coroner Emil Sante said it appears an avalanche that struck beneath treeline carried Harrelson as much as 300 feet. (The Colorado Avalanche Information Center, or CAIC, has a photo of the location here.)
Harrelson apparently managed to extricate himself and walk a further 200 to 300 feet before dying beneath some trees. He sustained traumatic injuries, but the cause of death is still being determined. CAIC says an average 27 people die in avalanches in the US each winter. The most avalanche fatalities Colorado has ever seen in a single season since detailed record-keeping began is 12. (Read more avalanche stories.)
A sculpture that currently sits inside a now-closed Aurora recreation center may get a new lease on life if the Aurora City Council approves a move.
The Beck Recreation Center closed last summer, and part of the building is scheduled for demolition. The remaining portion will serve as a golf shop for the nearby SpringHill Golf Course. That means a huge glass and metal sculpture installed in 2014 needs to be moved.
On Monday, Aurora’s city council will vote on a proposal to move it to Tallyn’s Reach Library. The artist, Reven Marie Swanson, has art installations across the country, and even some overseas.
“Without sounding like I’m bragging, my artwork is in 26 states, 38 municipalities in Colorado and in three countries, ” said Swanson.
She’s a sculptor who combines metalwork and glasswork to create unique pieces, like the one that currently sits inside the shuttered Beck Recreation Center.
“It’s called ‘Under the Swimming Pool,’ and it’s the idea about when you walk into the vestibule. It felt like I could create something that you could actually be under the water and looking up through the surface of the water as if you’re walking on the bottom of the pool,” said Swanson.
In the summer of 2025, structural issues shut the doors at Beck for good, and since then, Swanson’s sculpture has been stuck there.
“I was a little nervous because city governments are very quick to do what they call ‘de-access’ artwork. And I was really hoping that this piece wouldn’t get de-accessed,” said Swanson.
Luckily, the City of Aurora has other plans. They want to move the piece from Beck to Tallyn’s Reach Library.
Swanson says it should be a simple move, but the sculpture, which hangs from the ceiling, will have to be attached to the library’s ceiling in a new way, using new materials. But Swanson says she likes the new location.
“It’s a really beautiful building. It’s got wonderful light, which is going to interact really nicely with the glass,” said Swanson.
And she is glad it will live on, continuing to inspire and enchant Aurorans.
“When I walked into the library, the librarian, she was like, ‘I am so excited to get this art!’ And it makes an artist feel good. Like you accomplished something,” said Swanson.
The proposal, which will be heard at Monday’s city council meeting, is estimated by the city to cost between $15,000 and $25,000, primarily because of the cost of materials needed to suspend it at the new location. The initial cost to install it at Beck Recreation Center in 2014 was nearly $35,000 dollars.
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