Avalanche — Southwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

2013-02-02 · Southwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

A party of three skiers triggered an avalanche in the Cement Creek drainage area of the northwest San Juan Mountains. The slide occurred on a steep northeast aspect known as Clothesline Path. The steepness of this slope, combined with new snowfall over a weakened slab of older snow, created dangerous avalanche conditions. Two of the skiers were partially buried with non-critical injuries, while the third skier was fully buried and did not survive after being uncovered several minutes after the avalanche.

Wider weather episode

After an extended period of relatively dry weather, a winter storm during the last week of January brought a considerable amount of new snow to the San Juan Mountains. The new snowfall on top of a weakened old layer of snow created dangerous avalanche conditions. Many natural avalanches occurred as a result of the snow storm, as well as some human triggered avalanches such as the deadly avalanche on February 2nd.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 493442. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.