PITKIN COUNTY, Colo. — An avalanche in the backcountry of Pitkin County on Saturday was a mile wide and 3,000 feet long, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said.
The slide happened in the Highlands Ridge area. The report said all of the Five Fingers and a part of the K Chutes ran, destroying an abandoned home.
The CAIC said the slide was a natural release with multiple start points that met several feeder paths, growing the size of the avalanche.
A spotter reported the avalanche as a singular major event that connected multiple paths, making it a mile wide or wider.
The CAIC said the avalanche took out hundreds of trees. Debris ran uphill for several hundred vertical feet. The CAIC said the avalanche went across a creek, taking out several trees.
