Remembering Zuma: Colorado's Most Famous Avalanche Rescue Dog

Zuma, a core member of Loveland Ski Patrol's (Colorado) team for many years, was a Nikita Husky wolf mix. He was half Akeita, quarter husky, quarter wolf.

He joined Loveland's Ski Patrol team at a time when the program was still developing, and his influence on the next generation of patrol dogs has been undeniable.

Zuma was well known, both in and out of bounds. He made numerous national media appearances and Mary, Zuma's owner, explained that many kids flocked to him at the resort.

We called Mary to get more insight on what Zuma was like behind the scenes. She told us that "if you ever met him, he was very personable."

She continued, "he would let kids put their arms around him, take pictures with him. Parents would post these pictures all the time. He was a major part of Loveland Ski Area, not just as an avalanche dog, but he was there as support animal in so many different ways. He was in the patrol room a lot when people were hurt and he would be there to help soothe them."

For instance, Zuma made an appearance on Good Morning America. Check out Zuma's National Television debut in the clip below.

Mary went on to remember the media's affinity for Zuma, saying, "he's been on every news channel in Denver where they just wanted to know more about the Avalanche program. He's been on our local channels up here in Summit County, he's been on the front page of the paper. He's had a multimedia presence that not many other dogs have experienced."

But behind his multimedia presence was a hard-working dog.

To get a sense of what Zuma was like from 9-5, we called up his handler, Tanner Franti. Franti is the Assistant Patrol Director at Loveland, and has extensive ski patrolling experience, including working as a line patroller, OEC and OET Instructor, Accident Investigator, and Avalanche Dog Handler.⁠

Zuma was Franti's first avalanche rescue dog. They started working together when the pup was just over a year old.

"Being that I was a full-time professional patroller, I was in a position to volunteer to be his handler. He and I very quickly formed a tight bond. I worked with him for most part of a season before he got through his CRAD validation. He was about two years old when he validated."

Zuma's training culminated when he cleared an avalanche on Loveland Pass, the backcountry area off the highway near Loveland Ski Area's boundary.

That morning, Loveland's Ski Patrol team received a report of a suspected avalanche on Loveland Pass. On this particular occasion, ski patrol wasn't able to identify who who had set off the avalanche.

Franti recalled the incident, saying, "we weren't able to see tracks coming out of the avalanche, so we couldn't confirm anything to rule out that someone wasn't buried in there. People don't always have avalanche beacons or they're not always skiing with partners. So it's highly conceivable you can have someone without that safety equipment, skiing alone."

"It had just been a full moon night, so it's really common for people to go up there in the middle of the night and ski. It was really lining up that there's likely someone trapped in this."

"We got a lot of resources from Alpine Search and Rescue, which is our county's volunteer search and rescue department. The Sheriff department showed up. And then we had Flight for Life, which is our local hospital air ambulance helicopter agency."

"We train with these helicopter teams to be able to fly and deploy into a backcountry environment that's gonna take way too long to hike into. You don't want the dog to be so exhausted when they get there that they can't work."

"This ballooned into a big response from the sheriff. They ended up getting two helicopters and cycled in around six to eight different flights of search and rescue ski patrollers. Zuma and myself, along with another patroller, were the first ones to land and start working to clear the site."

"If that person's not wearing a transceiver or doesn't have a RECCO device, a dog is the only tool to tell you if there is a victim buried. So having Zuma there right away was that the resource we needed."

Franti worked him over the whole site twice. Zuma didn't detect anybody buried under the snow.

"Meanwhile, the other team members were working their transceivers and the RECCO receivers and we had probe lines starting. We eventually got another dog from Copper Mountain that came in and the same thing that dog cleared the site and did not detect any human scent."

Franti laughed, saying, "it's a bit of an anti-climactic story. It was determined that nobody was buried. Having those dogs present is equally as valuable to determine a site as clear as it is to determine that there is a victim in here."

Outside of work, Zuma was a true dog. While it might sound crazy, Zuma loved to run with moose. At a neighbor's house, he also managed to tree a mama bear and her cubs.

Mary laughed, remembering the story. "He thought it was a game and playing with them. My husband was the one witnessing that one, and our neighbors didn't like the idea that there was a bear in her cubs in the tree. Without his uniform, he was sweet, lovable, playful."

Although he has done things most dogs--and people, even--might never do in their lifetimes, he was a normal dog at home. Mary recalled that "his favorite place was the couch in our living room, or during the warmer months, the porch swing we have out on our deck. He would sprawl on that and just relax and be happy."

"He was a true dog. There's no way around that, but you put his uniform on him and he was all business."

We asked Tanner what he would miss most about Zuma.

Tanner said, with heavy pauses, "I would have him up with me at the end of the day for the last run and on the [final] sweep. Zuma was an incredible athlete. Just poetry in motion when he would run. I'm just gonna miss watching him run and watching him interact with the terrain and just appear so free and joyful on that last run of the day."

"I got to watch that every day for 10 plus years. I'll just be watching his ghost run down with me sweeping from now on."

Mary elaborated on what she would miss about Zuma, saying, "we are very grateful for everything he did and very proud of the life he led. It was quite a privilege to be a part of his life."

"He was one of the most loved dogs. Not that other dogs aren't loved that much, but he was really loved and respected and people loved meeting him. We'd have people coming into the patrol room asking to see, 'is Zuma there? We need to meet him.'"

"Our ski area keeps stuffed animals in our store with a red jacket on them and their name and Loveland Ski Area on it. They'd sell out of [his stuffed animal] all the time."

"His presence was just... everyone loved him."

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