Sean was backcountry skiing on a peak about 8 miles from Mt Crested Butte. When he started skiing down the couloir, about ten turns into the chute he heard a loud cracking sound, and then it avalanched. He tried to get out of the slide, but he was pulled by the avalanche 1350 feet down the chute.

After a lengthy extraction, Sean ended up in the emergency room where he found out that he had broken his nose, orbit bone, left ribs, right fibula, open compound fracture of the right elbow, a crush injury to his right shoulder, concussion, a pulmonary contusion and hypothermia. Due to the extent of his injuries he was flown to a trauma center in Grand Junction, St. Mary’s Hospital. He then underwent 2 six hour surgeries and an 11 day stay at the hospital.