Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 21, 2023 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Warm and sunny. Winds started to pick up around midday.
Snowpack
Southerly-facing paths like the Engineers, Henry Brown and East Lime Creek have lost a lot of snow depth during the recent warm weather, and last week's snow has settled and been incorporated into the mid-pack layering. Boot pen was 20-25 cm in these paths. Several cm of wet snow on the surface covered moist rounds and rounding facets, with a couple of old crusts in the mix. The upper layers in Henry Brown were the most concerning but cold temperatures tonight should lock up these layers and create a strong base for the incoming storm. Below these layers are Pencil to Knife-hard rounds. West Lime had cold snow, with ~ 30 cm of 4f-hard DFs and Rounds, topping a stout slab. Lots of settlement has happened here, the master stake is showing 81", down from the 109" measured at the end of last week's storm. Average HS is around 140 cm. Boot penetration is only around 20 cm.
Avalanche
No new activity observed