Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Mark Gober · Apr 20, 2016 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

cloudy and warm

Snowpack

NE aspect below TL. Snowpack was 125cm deep, 30cm of consolidated new snow on top of old, dirty surface. Old surface was a stout 2-4cm m/f crust that was still frozen. Below crust was close to a meter of moist, well-bonded snow. Entire pack was isothermal. CT tests had Q3 failures on old/new interface and below that no failures. Overall it was a strong snowpack with no glaring weak layers. The old/new interface will not pose a significant long-term threat as it will bond over time or melt away. There could be some minor sluffing or sheeting off of this layer of new snow in steep locations in the short term, however.