Northern San Juan
AvalancheAmy Pertuz · Mar 30, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Skies remained miraculously covered all day on the North side of Red Mtn Pass, with only moments during the day where the clouds felt thin enough to feel the sun, and no blue sky.
Snowpack
Snow fell most of the day with accumulations of about 3” of nice fluffy stellars. Some snow at lower elevations was thickened in the warm temps, but surfaces were mainly spared from wetting. The most recent round of snow has bonded well and remained free of wind effect. A pit on a SE aspect at treeline (HS 173cm) showed overall weak structure, with two prominent crust facet combos 38cm and 48cm from the surface both failing with moderate CT scores but only the layer at 38cm propagating on the facets above the crust and underneath recent storm snow. The midpack was surprisingly faceted. Overall good ski conditions. A quick roadside tour of RMP late in the day had blue sky over the south side of the Pass all the way , with wet loose slides on westerlies and a larger wet loose on a southerly aspect putting more significant debris (approaching D2) into the Mill Creek proper. The north side of the Pass seems to have escaped this blue hole, it was still snowing on the north side on the way back over...
Avalanche
Wet loose only. No cracks, whumphs or signs of instability.