BC Zone Observation Report
Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 12:00 AM
Front Range
Details
Date:
2020/01/18
Observer:
Public
Location
BC Zone:
Front Range
Area Description:
West Butler Gulch (39.7665554, -105.8658205). ESE aspect at ~11700ft.
Weather
Weather Description:
Overcast, light wind West to east
Snowpack
Snowpack Description:
3-4" fresh, some wind deposited snow. Snowpack failed on a weak faceted/sugary layer ~18" off the ground. No cornices or obvious bulges before the slide, but avalanche crown indicated significant localized wind loading.
Avalanches
Avalanche Description:
Skier triggered (possibly dog triggered?). Skier 1 stayed close to trees on skier's left to avoid obvious steep rollover and terrain trap to the right and stopped at prearranged safe location. Skier 2 paralleled skier 1's turns with dog following. As skier 2 reached safe location both skiers looked up to see a large slab release. Failure propagated roughly 70m wide and ran roughly 70m. Dog was descending near the two small trees to skier's right and was buried. After a visual and probe search dog was extracted with no apparent injuries.
Date
Location/Path
#
Elev
Asp
Type
Trig
SizeR
SizeD
2020/01/18
Butler Gulch
1
TL
SE
HS
AS
R2
D2
Date:
2020/01/18
Time:
12:00 PM (Estimated)
Landmark:
Butler Gulch
Sliding Surface:
I - New/Old Interface
Average Crown:
20 in
Maximum Crown:
36 in
Average Width:
200 ft
Average Vertical:
200 ft
Media
Images