‘100-Year Avalanche’ Barrels Down Mt. Shasta

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A post shared by ShastaAvalanche (@shastaavalanche) on Feb 19, 2019 at 7:46pm PST

While backcountry skiing on Mt. Shasta on Sunday, mountain guide Chris Carr discovered a monster—at least the aftermath of one. Rising up from the Bunny Lake trailhead was a 30-foot wall of snow created by a "100-year avalanche" that barreled down the side of Mt. Shasta. What made this slide so unique and historic was the sheer length of its slide path. The walls were so big that you could ski down them. According to the Redding Record Searchlight, Carr, in his 25 years of living in the area, has never found anything like this before.

Before discovering the colossal debris, Carr and his team were notified of a potentially large avalanche. Even with the warning, they never could have fathomed what actually transpired.

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The 300-foot-wide path ran for about four miles and covered 5,000 feet in elevation. The snow left destruction in its wake, ripping trees straight from the ground. It finally stopped at about an elevation of 7,200 feet. The avalanche was labeled by the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center as a D4 event—that’s large enough to wipe out an entire village.

The event was likely triggered by a few key factors. First, northern California received an insane amount of snow last week. The town of Shasta alone got two feet in a 24-hour period. The next ingredient? Temperatures following the huge snowfall warmed up so significantly that heavy rain fell on top of the snow. That combination of fresh snowfall and rapid warming created an upsidedown snowpack, which was the perfect storm for this avalanche.

Chilling avalanches of this nature have been recorded on Shasta before, in 1978 an avalanche destroyed Ski Shasta in the Old Ski Bowl. Skiing was absent on the mountain until 1985 when Mt. Shasta Ski Park opened to the public. Still, despite previous avalanches, Carr has never heard of one traveling as low as this one.

Luckily the Everett Memorial Highway was closed at the time of the incident, which likely prevented anyone getting caught in its path. If anything, Carr recognizes this as a reminder to mindful whenever you travel into the backcountry—especially during times of heavy snowfall.

Read more about avalanche safety and backcountry travel in TGR's Safety Week content.

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stash member Katie Lozancich

TGR Staff Writer and photographer. Fond of bikes, pow, and dogs. Originally from Northern CA, home for me has ranged from the PNW to a teepee in Grand Teton National Park.