Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Mar 24, 2020 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Warm and sunny. The few low lying clouds moved through in the morning but quickly cleared by mid-day and did not re-develop as per forecast. Light winds along ridges and in the alpine kept snow surfaces from getting too wet and gloppy.
Snowpack
The upper snowpack continues to settle and stiffen after two weeks of consistent snowfall. Snow surfaces became soft from today's strong sun and warm temperatures. Slopes below 10,000 feet became wet and rotten by the afternoon making travel difficult - we easily broke through even on skis. Boot penetration at lower elevations was all the way to the ground. Above about 11,000 feet only the top couple inches of snow became moist. Dry, soft surface conditions still exist on northerly-facing slopes but have also settled quickly making uphill travel less arduous. Weak facets that formed on the surface in late February are still the most concerning buried weak layer on multiple aspects. This layer was more reactive in our east-facing snowpit and demonstrated a stubborn fracture behavior in our north-facing snowpit. There, the slab above weak facets is almost a meter deep and impacting weaker snow below seems more difficult. Bonding between storm layers continues to improve and didn't contribute to propagating results in ECTs. The same layers did fail with easy to moderate shear force prior to performing an ECT.