A Durango snowboarder was seriously injured Wednesday afternoon north of Silverton when an avalanche swept him into a tree.

A Tri-State CareFlight helicopter from Montrose flew Seth Campbell, 35, to Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango.

Campbell was in fair condition Thursday afternoon, hospital spokesman David Bruzzese said.

“I hit a bad pocket and got carried in the slide,” Campbell said from his hospital bed Thursday. “I was going at a pretty good speed.”

Campbell, who has been snowboarding about 20 years, estimated he slid 800 feet.

Campbell and a friend, Frank Guerin, were snowboarding late Wednesday on the Cement Fill avalanche chute near Ophir Pass and U.S. Highway 550 when one of the men triggered an avalanche.

Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Nancy Shanks said that the Cement Fill avalanche chute is one of 69 slide areas on Red Mountain Pass that CDOT crews monitor regularly.

“Cement Fill runs regularly,” Shanks said. “In the winter of 2009-2010, one of the biggest avalanches occurred there – a slide 300 to 400 feet long and 18 feet deep on Highway 550.”

Cement Fill is 4.5 miles north of Silverton, Shanks said. It is one of 114 avalanche areas that CDOT crews monitor on Coal Bank, Molas and Red Mountain passes.

Campbell said he wasn’t buried under snow but remained in a sitting position on top of the snow.

Kristine Burns, San Juan County undersheriff, credited Guerin with saving his friend.

“He (Campbell) couldn’t have done it alone,” Burns said. “His friend saved his life.”

Campbell and Guerin parked their vehicle at the Ophir Pass turnoff along U.S. Highway 550, hiked up and then snowboarded down Cement Fill chute, Burns said.

Guerin helped Campbell reach the highway about a half-mile away, Burns said. If rescuers had had to reach the scene, the delay probably could have been fatal, Burns said.

Burns said Red Mountain Pass was closed for about 45 minutes while rescuers stabilized Campbell to be transported to Durango.

A search-and-rescue team would move fast, Burns said. But it takes time to get into such a setting and get a victim out, she said.

daler@durango herald.com