Avalanche in Colorado

Events

273

Deaths

121

Injuries

92

Damage

$525,000

• Avalanche in Colorado, April 20, 20135 deaths · 1 eventA large avalanche pushed a group of six snow boarders into the Sheep Creek gully of Loveland Pass. This is near but outside the Loveland Ski Area boundary. Five of the six members of the group were completely buried. The survivor was was partially buried.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 1, 20213 deaths · 4 injured · 1 eventA series of strong winter storms brought heavy snow to the mountains of southwest Colorado in late January 2021 with new snowfall amounts up to 35.5 inches reported. Strong winds associated with these storms resulted in heavy snow loading on windward slopes.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 6, 19993 deaths · 1 injured · 1 eventA group of 4 college students were caught in an avalanche which was triggered by one of the skiers while traversing a slope just below the summit on Cumberland Pass, which is about 25 miles east-northeast of Gunnison in the Sawatch Mountain Range.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 15, 20142 deaths · 3 injured · 1 eventHeavy snow created dangerous avalanche conditions across the eastern Sawatch Range. An avalanche occurred near Colorado 82 on Independence Pass.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 25, 20232 deaths · 2 injured · 1 eventA series of winter storms brought heavy, wind swept snow, to the mountains of southwest Colorado from mid to late February. This snow fell on an older layer of snow that was deposited in late January and early February, which had become more faceted and weak.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 15, 20202 deaths · 1 injured · 1 eventAfter a week of heavy, wind blown snow across the Central Colorado Rockies where up to four feet of snow had fallen, back country recreationists unintentionally triggered a hard slab avalanche while riding motorized snow-bikes.
• Avalanche in Colorado, December 19, 20202 deaths · 1 injured · 1 eventA series of early season winter storms was followed by a period of dry weather beginning on November 23. The dry pattern resulted in warm days, cold nights and light winds. The weather pattern changed on December 10 as a series of Pacific storms passed through the area.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 13, 20072 deaths · $2,000 · 2 eventsUnstable snowpack resulted in avalanches in some of the mountains of western Colorado.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 14, 20212 deaths · 2 eventsA backcountry snowboarder and a snowmobiler were killed by avalanches in separate incidents on Valentine's Day. In the first incident occurred near Loveland Pass. |The avalanche ran on an east facing slope east of Mount Trelease at an elevation over 12,000 feet.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 17, 20002 deaths · 1 eventTwo skiers were caught and killed in an avalanche near Highland Peak. This was a hard-slab avalanche which fractured at about 4 feet below the surface of the snow pack. The avalanche traveled about 1100 feet in the vertical and was about 500 feet wide.
• Avalanche in Colorado, January 1, 20062 deaths · 1 eventTwo snowmobilers from Iowa were buried and killed in an avalanche in the Trap Park area of the Front Range, about 3.5 miles east-northeast of Cameron Pass. There were 12 snowmobilers in the party.
• Avalanche in Colorado, December 26, 20082 deaths · 1 eventTwo snowmobilers were killed on the side of Gravel Mountain near Grand Lake. The avalanche occurred when one of the men tried to assist the other, after his snowmobile had become stuck in the snow. Both men were buried by the slide and died at the scene of the accident.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 19, 20102 deaths · 1 eventTwo men were buried and perished when up to 2 1/2 feet of snow slid off a cabin roof 17 miles west of Creede. This was the first instance of a fatal roof avalanche since 1996 in Vail.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 16, 20192 deaths · 1 eventA strong winter storm dropped 1 to 2 feet of new snow across the Central Mountains in Western Colorado on top of an unstable early winter snow pack.
• Avalanche in Colorado, January 7, 20232 deaths · 1 eventTwo snowmobilers were caught, buried, and killed in a large avalanche on the east face of Mount Epworth near Corona Pass, about 6 miles east of Winter Park. Another group in the area was able to locate one of the riders with a transceiver.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 16, 20231 death · 3 injured · 1 eventA series of winter systems associated with an atmospheric river brought an abundance of heavy, wet snow to southwest Colorado. This, paired with periods of warmer temperatures in between the events, resulted in an unstable snowpack.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 14, 20021 death · 2 injured · 1 eventA group of backcountry skiers triggered a large soft-slab avalanche about four miles south of Ashcroft at an elevation of 11,000 feet. The avalanche was estimated to be 600 to 800 feet across and traveled 300 to 400 vertical feet.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 2, 20131 death · 2 injured · 1 eventAfter an extended period of relatively dry weather, a winter storm during the last week of January brought a considerable amount of new snow to the San Juan Mountains. The new snowfall on top of a weakened old layer of snow created dangerous avalanche conditions.
• Avalanche in Colorado, January 7, 20141 death · 2 injured · 1 eventA hard slab, skier-triggered, avalanche occurred in the East Vail Chutes just outside the Vail ski area. The slide was of medium size and broke into old snow layers, the crown face was near 10 feet in depth at the center.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 22, 20211 death · 2 injured · 1 eventA period of dry weather followed a series of winter storms that brought heavy snow to the mountains of Central Colorado during February and early March. This dry period allow the snowpack to become thin and weak in areas.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 4, 20211 death · 2 injured · 1 eventA series of strong winter storms brought heavy snowfall to the mountains of central Colorado during the last week of January and into early February. This resulted in a hazardous and unstable snowpack in the Colorado backcountry.
• Avalanche in Colorado, February 25, 20221 death · 2 injured · 1 eventA series of winter storms brought heavy, wind swept snow, to the mountains of West-Central Colorado from mid to late February. This snow fell on an older layer of snow that was deposited in late December 2021, which had become more faceted and weak.
• Avalanche in Colorado, May 29, 20221 death · 2 injured · 1 eventAn rockfall and avalanche occurred near the Dreamweaver Couloir on Mt. Meeker. Three climbers were involved in the incident, a female and two males. One of the male climbers was killed and recovered later that day.
• Avalanche in Colorado, March 19, 20231 death · 2 injured · 1 eventHeavy snow from a series of moist, atmospheric river events from late February into mid-March 2023 resulted in an unstable snowpack across the Colorado Rockies.
• Winter Storm and Avalanche in Colorado, April 15 to 16, 20201 death · 11 eventsA potent storm system dropped out of the northern Rockies and produced moderate to heavy snow over portions of the mountains, foothills and plains. The heaviest snow fell in and near the foothills north of Interstate 70, and across the plains north of I-76.

Avalanche everywhereEvery kind of event in Colorado

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.