Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Jason Konigsberg, Josh Coffin · Jan 25, 2016 · Southern San Juan

Weather

The morning started clear and cold. Temps were around 10 degrees at 9 AM. Temps warmed throughout the morning till noon when cloud cover increased and cold air moved into the area in northerly flow. Snow began after noon and snow rates were up to S3 during some squalls. Skies started to clear again around 3 PM. Snow accumulation during the day was 2-3". HST about 9".

Snowpack

New snow was very low density and there were no instabilities in non wind-loaded areas except for southerly aspects where new snow did not bond well to a melt freeze crust.--- In general the snowpack was deeper and stronger than I had thought. Probing in many areas near and below treeline we found the snow depth to be about 180 cms on east and northeast aspects---The weakest snow is at the ground but it is relatively strong and 4F in hardness.--- Observed a poor snowpack structure on south and southeast aspects. We steered clear of any wind-loaded southerly aspects. Easterly start zones were surprisingly scoured maybe from northeast wind last Sunday. There was also evidence that some large avalanches ran during XMas cycle.---In some areas we found weak snow from the mid-January dry spell but nothing reactive in snowpit tests.