Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Dec 14, 2020 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

Overcast skies with light flurries for most of the day. By 2:30 pm, cloud deck lowered and snowfall picked up in intensity. By 4:00 pm, S1-2 snowfall from Mayday out to Hesperus.

Snowpack

Recent snowfall accumulations range from 5 to 8 inches below 10,000 feet and around a foot between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. On north and northeast-facing slopes below treeline, the new snow sits on top of a fully faceted snowpack consisting of large grain facets and depth hoar that persisted during the almost 3 weeks of high pressure. On east-facing slopes, new snow sits on a firm crust with weaker facets below. We observed numerous loud collapses and it was almost a guarantee to see shooting cracks on terrain features that approached 35 degrees.

Avalanche

None observed