facebook-pixel

Longtime ski guide’s death in Big Cottonwood avalanche a ‘punch to the gut’ for backcountry community

Higinio “Quino” Gonzalez led expeditions up Mount McKinley, Annapurna and Gasherbrum I and was “impeccably competent.”

(Jamie Fendler) Higinio "Quino" Gonzalez guided expeditions up several 24,000-foot-plus peaks, including Annapurna and Gasherbrum and also had worked for the World Bank as an interpreter. He died in an avalanche Feb. 8, 2025, while guiding another skier in the East Bowl in Little Cottonwood Canyon.