Massive 4 Mile Long '100-year Avalanche' Triggered In California

“Most visitors would never realize they pass through a massive avalanche path en route to the Cabin and around February 14, 2019 this long dormant avalanche path was awoken.” (Photo and Words by: Chris Carr, Shasta Mountain Guides)

Chris Carr, owner of Shasta Mountain Guides, is reporting a massive avalanche the likes of which he has never seen before.

“It was remarkable. It nearly took my breath away,” Carr told The Record Searchlight.

Carr had heard unconfirmed reports of a potentially large avalanche in the area. On Sunday, Carr came across the enormous debris pile while backcountry skiing just up from the Bunny Flat trailhead.

According to Carr, the slide path was four-miles long, falling 5,000 feet in elevation and carving about a 300-foot-wide path of destruction down the mountain.

Many feet of snow has fallen on Mount Shasta this month. The town of Mt Shasta received 2 feet of snow in just a 24-hour period between last Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. The massive snowpack the has been building on the mountain was “turned upside down” when a rain event added water weight to the snowpack resulting in a very unstable snowpack.

This perfect storm of snowpack conditions led to what Carr believes is a 100-year event.