A female backcountry skier was killed by a sizable slab avalanche on Ohio Pass, 6 miles west-southwest of Crested Butte. The soft-slab avalanche released at an elevation of 10,100 feet, was estimated to be 400 feet across and fell about 600 vertical feet.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
A female backcountry skier was killed by a sizable slab avalanche on Ohio Pass, 6 miles west-southwest of Crested Butte. The soft-slab avalanche released at an elevation of 10,100 feet, was estimated to be 400 feet across and fell about 600 vertical feet. Five other backcountry skiers escaped with no injuries.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 25, 2:32 AM MST, 11 hours 28 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 232 AM MST SUN FEB 25 2001 LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CIRCULATING OFF THE NORTHERN CA COAST EARLY THIS MORNING. IR SHOWS FAIR AMOUNT OF LOWER-MID LEVEL CLOUDINESS ACROSS THE REGION ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAK SHORTWAVE. SURFACE OBSERVATIONS DO NOT INDICATE ANY MOISTURE REACHING THE GROUND. HARD TO ESTABLISH GROUND TRUTH OVER HIGHER TERRAIN THOUGH SUSPECT RADAR DETECTING MAINLY CLOUD AT THIS TIME. MODEL COMPARISON SHOWED LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVN AND ETA IN THE SHORT TERM. MOISTURE FIELDS QUITE SIMILAR AND BOTH SEEM TO FIT WELL WITH LATEST WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. EACH APPEARED WELL INITIALIZED... THOUGH ETA DID SLIGHTLY BETTER JOB WITH WIND FIELD AT MID-LEVELS AROUND UPPER LOW OFF THE CA COAST THIS MORNING. THEREFORE...FORECAST BASED ON ETA THIS CYCLE. SHORTWAVE MENTIONED ABOVE TO BE WELL EAST OF THE AREA EARLY TODAY WITH 5-3H DIV-Q FIELD INDICATING DOWNWARD FORCING WHICH FITS IN WITH DRYING INDICATED IN THE 7-5H LAYER FOR THIS AFTERNOON. AS SUCH... WILL ADJUST FORECAST TOWARD PARTLY SUNNY AFTERNOON. OVER THE MOUNTAIN AREAS FLOW IS LIGHT FROM THE SOUTHWEST. LAPSE RATES NOT THAT STEEP AT 5.5 TO 6.0 DEG C/KM AND MOISTURE LIMITED. AS SUCH...TEMPTED TO REMOVE ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS OVER CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS TODAY... HOWEVER CANT STATE WITH CERTAINTY THAT A FEW SHOWERS WILL NOT OCCUR OVER HIGHER AREAS. LOW OFF THE WEST COAST DROPS SOUTH FROM SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY ALLOWING MOISTURE TO SPREAD OVER THE REGION EXCEPT ACROSS THE NW PORTION OF CWFA WHICH STAYS UNDER THE DRY SIDE OF DEFORMATION ZONE BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN STREAMS. 5-3H DIV-Q INDICATES UPWARD FORCING ACROSS THE SOUTH ALONG WITH INCREASING MOISTURE FROM MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT. CONSEQUENTLY...WILL CONTINUE WITH HIGHER POPS ACROSS THE FOUR CORNERS TRENDING LOWER TO THE NORTH. 7H FLOW FAIRLY WEAK...SO NOT ANTICIPATING SIGNIFICANT SNOW...THOUGH ENOUGH DYNAMIC FORCING TO CONTINUE WITH CATEGORICAL POPS...ESPECIALLY OVER THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. TEMPERATURES NOT LIKELY TO SHOW MUCH CHANGE WHICH GUIDANCE BEARS OUT. THEREFORE...WILL NOT STRAY FAR FROM MOS NUMBERS. .EXTENDED...SPLIT IN FLOW BREAKS DOWN OVER NORTH AMERICA AT THE END OF THE WORK WEEK. CUTOFF LOW IN THE SOUTHERN STREAM MAIN FEATURE OF INTEREST FROM TUESDAY TO THURSDAY WITH CWFA IN THE DEFORMATION AREA BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN STREAMS DURING THIS PERIOD. EXPECT FAIR AMOUNT OF CLOUDS AS A RESULT...WITH SHOWERS POSSIBLE AS CURRENTLY FORECAST. DYNAMICS AND FLOW BENIGN SO NOT EXPECTING ANY SIGNIFICANT MOUNTAIN SNOW. FLOW UNIFIES FRIDAY WITH DECENT SHORTWAVE INDICATED WHICH WILL KEEP WEATHER UNSETTLED ACROSS THE AREA. DRY CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL SATURDAY WITH SHORTWAVE RIDGE BRIEFLY IN PLACE AS THE RESULT OF DIGGING TROF ALONG THE WEST COAST. WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MAINTAIN A NORMAL LEVEL OF WEATHER AWARENESS TODAY. NL .GJT...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, West Elk and Sawatch Mountains | 2001-03-25 | 40 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, February 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5232752.