Southern San Juan

Snowpack

"Yesterday afternoon, one of the largest avalanches we have ever seen in the Sheepshead zone, was remotely triggered by 4 snowmobiles riding slowly on flat terrain across a small valley from this slope. No people were anywhere near the Avalanche debris as it came down, as the remote trigger was over 250 yards away, and uphill in a safe travel zone, from where the debris came to rest. The fracture line extends well to the right of this photo, and also wraps around the corner in the left of this photo. The total width of this failure was around 1/2 of a mile, with portions of the fracture line reaching depths of almost 20 feet. This ridge line is part of the Continental Divide, and had received around 90" of high water content snow with high winds in the 2 weeks prior to this release."