Details

• Date: 2021/02/14

• Observer: Public

Location

• BC Zone: Northern San Juan
• Area Description: Above Tree Line, Above Commodore Basin, 12,600-12,800 ft in elevation. Lat-37.919212 Long- -107. 722365

Weather

• Weather Description: Partly Cloudy, Light Wind, Southeast Aspect. The slide occurred on a northeast aspect.

Snowpack

• Snowpack Description: The snowpack in the zone in which the avalanche occurred saw an excessive amount of wind-loading on top of multiple faceted weak layers. 12800 elevation. Slide occurred on North through northeast aspects.

Avalanches

• Avalanche Description: The avalanche occurred on north through northeast aspects at an elevation of 12800ft to 13200ft. It broke to ground in multiple regions of the slide and the depth of the crown exceeded 20ft at its peak. It released monolithic truck sized slabs in the terrain features which had the greatest loading capability/capacity. As a great majority of the possible slide path was at play I would consider this slide to have run at R4, D4, as was evidenced by its magnitude, and debris pile, which we estimated to have been at least 30 ft deep.

	Date	Location/Path	#	Elev	Asp	Type	Trig	SizeR	SizeD
	2021/02/14  †	Red Mountain Pass	1	>TL	NE		AS / r	R4	D3
Date: 2021/02/14 (Estimated) Area Description: Upper Commodore Basin Landmark: Red Mountain Pass

Media

Video

The video of the slide above Commodore Basin a few moments after it's release.


This avalanche was remotely triggered in the Commodore slide path in the North San Juan zone on February 14, 2021. This avalanche broke wide and ran across the standard skin track where these riders were about to go. Avalanche conditions are not the same as years past. Areas that you would travel most years may not be safe this year. Check colorado.gov/avalanche for the most up to date information.

Images