Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Toby Weed · Apr 18, 2016 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Red Mountain Pass, N, NE and W facing slopes 1100' to...1200' Periods with moderate snowfall, and about two inches of accumulation by mid-afternoon. Mostly socked-in up high, but some periodic clearing. Mild temperatures with some greenhousing in the morning , but increasing snowfall and steady temps in the afternoon. Winds were fairly light and from the northwest

Snowpack

Appeared to be a fairly good bond between this weekend's snow and old m/f, but we noted some shallow instability (cracking and shallow wind slabs) in drifted areas within the storm snow. We found very nice smooth shallow powder (1' deep or so skiing conditions.

Avalanche

We did not observe any evidence of recent avalanche activity, but also had fairly poor visibility and could not see much in the surrounding terrain.