Sawatch
AvalancheAndrew Maddox · Mar 12, 2019 · Sawatch
Weather
Light Snow and light wind near tree line. The new snow and wind loading is quickly covering up evidence of the recent avalanche cycle making crown lines and debris hard to pick out
Avalanche
The avalanche released naturally approximately 2 days ago, it started above tree line on a west facing aspect and ran to the bottom of the drainage, pushing debris to the opposite side of the drainage. The slide took out large old growth trees and hit a small cabin on a private mining claim, that has been built recently. The east side of the cabin was covered in snow and the windows were broken out. The start zone was picture perfect avalanche terrain and one to avoid, the remarkable thing about this avalanche was the amount of energy generated and the destruction the occurred from this size of slide path, and the fact that this was the leeward slope, and not wind loaded. I would not have predicted that this path would have ran as far as it did or caused as much damage.