Huge rock avalanches rumble down Mount Rainier
Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano’s flanks.
Seattle Times science reporter
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Special to The Seattle Times / A. Blagoveshchenskaya and F. Kaye
A large rock/snow slide is photographed on Mount Rainier, originating above the Nisqually Glacier and traveling nearly two miles.
Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano’s flanks.
No one has been injured, but one group of climbers fled as dust descended on their tent after a rockfall Saturday afternoon.
“From my standpoint of looking at the mountain for 20 years, we’ve probably had rockfalls like this once every five or 10 years,” said Stefan Lofgren, lead climbing ranger for Mount Rainier National Park.
Since Friday, at least three major rockfalls and several smaller ones have sloughed off the rocky ridge called Nisqually Cleaver, at an elevation of about 12,800 feet. The one that let loose Saturday afternoon was the biggest.
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