Northern San Juan
AvalancheChris Dickson · Feb 3, 2025 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Sunny and HOT! The temperature at the trailhead at 9700' was 56 degrees when we returned at noon.
Snowpack
The snowpack is tired. Even our most recent storm snow has been faceted in sheltered areas, and beat down by wind or cooked by the sun in open areas. Also, the snowpack has shrunk, showing signs of settlement due to recent warming. The new snow is dense and heavy over weak faceted snow, created tricky trapdoor conditions at lower elevations. Widespread melt-freeze crusts at all elevations. Above treeline, the most recent snow obscures old harder wind layers, but the most recent snow also now features a thin windskin on top of it. We found older wind slabs that were faceting and unreactive (but hollow) on a steeper north-facing slope above treeline. The snowpack for this area has slipped to 68% of it's 30-year average, and it definitely shows here...
Avalanche
Decent cycle of natural Loose Wet avalanches on the afternoon of 2/2/2025. Mostly on southwest and west-facing slopes above treeline. Some of these loose avalanches may have stepped down and gouged out slabs in the lower portions of the paths.