Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeremy Yanko · Nov 8, 2024 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Mostly clear am to increasing high thin cloud cover by early afternoon. Mostly calm with an intermittent NE breeze, ~20F

Snowpack

Generally a nice foundation has been stacked up in this area and largely supportive to ski travel between 10-12K. I did find some well developed facets at the bottom of the snowpack below 10,500 where HS sits around 40-50cm. Hasty profiles and probing also revealed two fragile crust layers which will likely continue to degrade but make for a tender setup and certainly concerning when we recieve our next significant loading event. Nearing 11k and above in elevation the snowpack showed good consolidation 4F hardness with a thin layer of moist small grain facets at the very bottom. Hopefully it will contiune to snow weekly for this month and beyond.

Avalanche

Natural release on a N/NE aspect NTL ~ 11,600ft in a steep complex gully system. Thinking it failed at the old interface in the early hours of 11/6, during peak precip.