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Avalanche in Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Avalanche February 1, 2021 · Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado
What the National Weather Service wrote
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.
The wider storm
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 941934. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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