Avalanche on South Face of Round Top

Large loose wet avalanche on the south side of Round Top (R3D4). It was difficult to determine exact starting point but this slide likely ran over 2500 feet. It likely ran 3/15. No crown was visible, although start zone was about 2000 feet above us during our observation. Similar but smaller avalanches in gullies to the west and east of this main gulley, appeared to have been started by roller balls or chunks of broken cornice. Large amounts of running water water observed in the gulley to the north. Cornices in this area were saturated with melt water and many chunks of broken cornice were observed. 

Photo 1: Approaching the debris pile. 

Photo 2: The runout area is clearly a frequent performer and the debris while enormous only covered about 60% of the historic debris zone based on tree density. Interesting to note the dirt in the runout. A fair amount of rocks and dirt were present in the debris. 

Photo 3: The avalanche path was the main gulley on the south face of Round Top. It appeared that the avalanche orginated near the summit but another gulley branched off east of the summit also held avalanche debris, so it is likely that multiple higher elevation gullies slid and this debris concentrated in the main gulley. 

Photo 4: Main gulley with summit in distance.