Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Oct 27, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Bluebird fall day with fierce northwest winds in the morning shifting to the northeast by mid-day. Snow plumes observed off all ridges and peaks, but blowing snow mostly sublimated into the atmosphere.
Snowpack
It is starting to look and feel a little more like snow and avalanche season in the mountains, especially at upper elevations. In the La Plata Mountains, continuous snow cover exist on northwest, north, and northeast-facing slopes near and above treeline. In general, snow depths range from one to two feet on those slopes. The snowpack is made up of recent storm snow sitting above older, faceted snow from late-September to mid-October storms. The majority of slopes facing east to south through west pose little to no avalanche danger in the area we traveled. The exception are very isolated terrain features that face east above treeline. Overall, the snowpack was supportable to skis on lower angled slopes but we easily punched to the ground in boots and on steeper terrain features.