Avalanche — Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

2021-02-01 · Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

A group of backcountry skiers triggered a large avalanche while on a multi-day trip in the mountains near The Nose, Middle Fork Mineral Creek southeast of Ophir. This was a soft slab avalanche that was 1000 feet wide and ran 1500 vertical feet. Four skiers were caught in the avalanche with 3 fatalities. Please visit the Colorado Avalanche Information Centers website for more details regarding this incident.

Wider weather episode

A series of strong winter storms brought heavy snow to the mountains of southwest Colorado in late January 2021 with new snowfall amounts up to 35.5 inches reported. Strong winds associated with these storms resulted in heavy snow loading on windward slopes. On February 1st, a group of backcountry skiers accidentally triggered a large avalanche resulting in several fatalities.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 941934. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.