Front Range
AvalancheAnonymous · Mar 15, 2019 · Front Range
Weather
0 deg F at the Herman Gulch trailhead at 8:00 AM, 32 deg F by 2:30 PM. Sunny day, minimal clouds, light wind at 15-20 mph, unsure of direction.
Snowpack
The front range zone had been in an avy warning the day before with the blizzard conditions and high amounts of snowfall primarily wednesday into thursday, 3/14/19.
Avalanche
We did not witness this avalanche occur. Southwest-facing gully off of Mount Parnassus, ~35-40 deg angle, sliding down a gully. Crown appeared to be around 12,500 feet or so. Appeared to run about 800-1000 feet. This is a rough estimation. There was also an odd path at the bottom of the avalanche where snow appears to have been removed or perhaps the slide made a turn to the south. The debris field appeared normal at the bottom of the west-facing slope into watrous gulch but the odd path to the south was what perplexed us. Was there some sort of rescue or recovery from this slide where rescue vehicles (snowcat?) came through to help with excavation? We couldn't think of any other reason beside some odd slide path.