Avalanche in Colorado, January 21, 2019

Name: Avalanche in Colorado, January 21, 2019
Start: 2019-01-21T10:20
End: 2019-01-21T16:00
Location: Colorado

January 21, 2019 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A group of back country skiers triggered an avalanche in the Express Creek drainage on Green Mountain near the town of Ashcroft, Colorado.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.

A group of back country skiers triggered an avalanche in the Express Creek drainage on Green Mountain near the town of Ashcroft, Colorado.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

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Event by event

1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, Gore and Elk Mountains/Central Mountain Valleys

When: January 21, 10:20 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Gore and Elk Mountains/Central Mountain Valleys forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Law Enforcement
Coordinates: 39.481, -107.172 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A group of back country skiers staying at the Markley Hut near the town of Ashcroft were involved in an avalanche on January 21. One was buried in the avalanche. The group located and extricated the skier from the snow and tried to revive him, but they were unsuccessful.

Initial reports describe an avalanche on a north-northeast facing slope at about 11,200 feet, breaking 2 feet deep, 500 feet wide, and running about 600 vertical feet.

The people who died

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, Gore and Elk Mountains/Central Mountain Valleys	2019-01-21	50	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Avalanche: A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 2019 Every state in 2019 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, January 2019

Sources

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 794275.