Northern San Juan
AvalancheHelitrax Team · Feb 16, 2023 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Beautiful San Juan day. Sunny and windy in the AM but backed off mid morning. The wind did pick up in the afternoon and snow was observed blowing off high peaks during the afternoon commute.
Snowpack
Around a foot and a half of new snow observed. Northerly winds during the morning hours moved snow onto leeward slopes and created a 5 cm light surface slab on windward facing slopes. Digging down the new snow is bonding fairly well to the old snow surface. We did observe some sluffing and small slabs on steep slopes were a firm curst formed prior to the most recent storm and todays snow stayed cold and dry. Sunny slopes did not show any sign of warming.
Avalanche
Two natural D2 avalanches on northeast facing slopes that ran sometime during the most recent storm. The avalanches looked to have failed at the new and old snow interface. The avalanches were observed on morning of the 16th near the town of Telluride near La Junta peak. Sluffing was also observed from many steep rocky slopes that failed mid-storm.