{"id":2443659,"date":"2019-05-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=305051"},"modified":"2019-05-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T06:00:00","slug":"big-snows-in-aspen-area-produced-landscape-changing-avalanches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/big-snows-in-aspen-area-produced-landscape-changing-avalanches\/","title":{"rendered":"Big snows in Aspen area produced landscape-changing avalanches"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.630081300813\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-305051-376\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times | The last house on Conundrum Road was surrounded by snow and debris from an avalanche that came down the K Chute, far left, and Fiver Fingers, middle, on March 8 or 9.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"The last house on Conundrum Road was surrounded by snow and debris from an avalanche that came down the K Chute, far left, and Fiver Fingers, middle, on March 8 or 9.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>The last house on Conundrum Road was surrounded by snow and debris from an avalanche that came down the K Chute, far left, and Fiver Fingers, middle, on March 8 or 9.<\/strong><br \/>Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Telluride Helitrax\/courtesy photo | This photo posted on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center's website shows how the avalanche ripped down K Chutes, left, and Fiver Fingers, traveled up the east side of Conundrum Valley and threatened the house in the lower center.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/avyfollo-atd-031119-2-2.jpg\" alt=\"This photo posted on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center's website shows how the avalanche ripped down K Chutes, left, and Fiver Fingers, traveled up the east side of Conundrum Valley and threatened the house in the lower center.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>This photo posted on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center&#8217;s website shows how the avalanche ripped down K Chutes, left, and Fiver Fingers, traveled up the east side of Conundrum Valley and threatened the house in the lower center.<\/strong><br \/>Telluride Helitrax\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/big-snows-in-aspen-area-produced-landscape-changing-avalanches\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/big-snows-in-aspen-area-produced-landscape-changing-avalanches\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The prolific snowfall this winter not only brought great resort skiing, it created backcountry avalanche conditions that produced awe and tragedy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat we saw was a historic avalanche cycle that occurred over the first 12 days of March,\u201d said Brian Lazar, deputy director and a forecaster for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The <a id=\"N0x1b1d6a0N0x1c14180:N0x1b1d6a0N0x1b3ae68\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/historic-sized-avalanche-hits-conundrum-valley-southwest-of-aspen\/\">granddaddy of them all<\/a> was a slide that broke at the top of Highlands Ridge on March 8 or 9. The slide broke over a mile wide and ran more than 3,000 vertical feet from the K-Chutes and Five Fingers area into Conundrum Creek Valley. It rumbled down with such force that it climbed the opposing valley wall for a couple of hundred feet and knocked down hundreds of aspen trees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Lazar told The Aspen Times at the time that the Conundrum avalanche was the largest the terrain could produce. \u201cThis is a landscape-changing event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He reiterated that point last week. The avalanche center documented numerous slides \u201cin paths that only run every few decades,\u201d Lazar said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Not only did slides clear out old paths that haven\u2019t slid in years, the size of many of the avalanches cleared wider paths in traditional routes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cConundrum took out over 1,000 trees,\u201d Lazar said. \u201cSome of these trees were over 100 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It also damaged an <a id=\"N0x1b1d6a0N0x1c141e0:N0x1b1d6a0N0x1b3b1c8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/avalanche-expert-says-conundrum-slide-likely-a-300-year-event\/\">unoccupied home<\/a> even though a concrete wall built as a protective wedge diverted the brunt of the slide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">There were 51 known avalanches in the Aspen zone between March 1 and 12, according to the avalanche center\u2019s database. That\u2019s only the slides that were observed. The avalanches occurred in all the major drainages \u2014 Maroon Creek Valley, Castle Creek Valley, Yule Creek in Marble, Garret Peak-East Snowmass Creek. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Heavy snowfall over two weeks starting in late February loaded weak, underlying layers of snow that fell in October. That early snow never solidified into a stable foundation, as is common in the Colorado mountains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Avalanches have killed eight people in Colorado as of April 27. Aspen suffered its share of tragedy. Arin Trook, the education director at Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, was <a id=\"N0x1b1d6a0N0x1c14240:N0x1b1d6a0N0x1b3b408\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/trending\/avalanche-report-says-trook-and-companion-skied-slightly-steeper-terrain-after-two-days-of-safe-backcountry-skiing\/\">killed while on a hut trip<\/a> south of Aspen Jan. 21.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Owen Green of Aspen and Michael Goerne of Carbondale <a id=\"N0x1b1d6a0N0x1c142a0:N0x1b1d6a0N0x1b3b528\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/trending\/report-aspen-men-ski-through-avalanche-debris-before-deadly-slide\/\">were killed while backcountry<\/a> skiing in Brush Creek Valley outside of Crested Butte on Feb. 16.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Conditions have vastly improved with warmer spring temperatures. There is still an incredible snowpack \u2014 121 percent of median at the headwaters of the Roaring Fork River and 140 percent of median at Schofield Pass. Lazar said a slow ease into warmer temperatures would make for ideal conditions, but wet slides still present a risk. Conditions in the Aspen zone are forecast to be moderate, or the second lowest rating, for the next several days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019re not out of the woods yet,\u201d Lazar said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">CAIC is looking for help from the public to document the damage from slides. When spring skiing or even hiking in the summer, take notes and submit an observation via the avalanche center\u2019s website at <a href=\"https:\/\/avalanche.state.co.us\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/avalanche.state.co.us\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe location, extend and damage to trees or structures will be helpful,\u201d the website said. \u201cAnd pictures are always helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:scondon@aspentimes.com\">scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/big-snows-in-aspen-area-produced-landscape-changing-avalanches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last house on Conundrum Road was surrounded by snow and debris from an avalanche that came down the K Chute, far left, and Fiver Fingers, middle, on March 8 or 9.Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times This photo posted on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center&#8217;s website shows how the avalanche ripped down K Chutes, left, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 14:37:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}