Valanga

President's Day Avalanche - Avalanche Gulch

Chris CarrMount Shasta
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Quick report

Large (D4) Avalanche with visible crown at 10,500 to 11,000 feet which ran in historic slide path to 7,150' knocking over mature trees and leaving large, scoured features in it's wake. Vertical walls of 50'+ with obvious large flowing debris and toe over 50' tall. Would expect a higher start zone but no visible clues to confirm this

Weather

Air Temp
30
Cloud Cover
few
Wind Loading
light
Recent Snowfall
10cm overnight
Snow Avail For Transport
small smounts

Clear, cool weather light nw breeze.

Snowpack

Some light new snow and cooler temps made for good travel and ski conditions. Snow pack is transitioning, ski penetration was 10-15cm, boot penetration 20-30cm

Avalanche

Size
D4 R4
Type
HS
Aspect
SW
Trigger
N
Elevation
10500 ft

Estimated natural avalanche on 2/19/24 during intense winter storm. Crown visible on W/SW aspect of Green Butte at approximately 10,500 to 11,000 feet. There was no other visible clues above Lake Helen. Mostly smooth consistent snow surface with some minor wind effect. Avalanche was contained to the gully where it did flow through low angle terrain, knocking mature trees down to 7,150'. With the distance travelled and amount of debris deposited, it would indicate a higher starting zone entraining massive amounts of snow, however there were no visible clues to confirm this.