Avalanche — Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

2010-03-30 · Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

A series of winter storms in March brought several feet of snow to the San Juan Mountains, including the storm leading up to this event which deposited 21 inches of new snowfall at the nearest observation site. The date of this event was the warmest day of the season to date with strong southerly winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 60 mph. All of these factors combined to produce what was believed to be a natural avalanche near Baldy Peak. A very experienced back-country traveler and certified alpine mountain guide with professional avalanche training headed out to attempt a remote ice climb on the northeast side of Baldy Peak when she was caught in the avalanche. Because she was traveling alone, many of the details of this event are unknown or estimated. The following day a search and rescue team found the avalanche site along with some of the climber's equipment and her dog, but were unsuccessful in finding the climber. They returned the following day with a larger team and eventually found the body of the missing climber buried under 5 to 6 feet of snow and debris.

Wider weather episode

Heavy snow in the San Juan Mountains combined with weak underlying snow surfaces and the warmest temperatures of the season so far to produce a fatal avalanche near Baldy Peak, southeast of the town of Ridgeway.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 220150. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.