Mt. Fitzherbert

Recent observations: This week field crews made repairs to monitoring equipment, continued the summer GPS campaign, and hauled out damaged equipment and spent batteries. They observed a conspicuous deposit of a recent rock and snow avalanche that fell from the south crater wall, just west of the top of the south flank Climbers Trail. Upon reaching the crater floor, the avalanche swept for about 200 meters (650 feet) across the west arm of Crater Glacier, hugging the base of the new lava dome. The exact timing of the avalanche is uncertain, but we know that it happened sometime between June 26 and July 8. Such events underscore the hazards in the crater posed by rock falls and avalanches from the steep crater walls.