Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis Chris Bilbrey · Dec 4, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Ample sunshine, mild temperatures, light winds.
Snowpack
The facet train has left the station. Cold and clear nights continue to accelerate the faceting process. This process is underway on the surface and bottom of the snowpack. On slopes near and above treeline with an snowpack depth of around 70cm's or greater, mostly northerly and easterly slopes, the sought mid-pack build by wet and heavy snowfall in November persist. On slopes shallower than about 50 cm's the snowpack mostly consists of facets, but supportable with skis on. The most notable observation from today is the depth of the faceted snow on the surface 15-25cm's and how the loose snow is becoming more reactive on steeper slopes specifically when the surface facets are sitting over a slick surface below.
Avalanche
We observed 2 Loose Dry avalanches today. One was skier-triggered on a northwest aspect above-treeline. This avalanche consisted of faceted surface snow failing on a buried firm wind-hardened surface. The other was on Kendall Mountain and looked to be triggered by rockfall. Both avalanches were above-treeline, westerly, and small.