Southern San Juan
AvalancheMatt Entz · Mar 13, 2019 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Sky was broken with varying snowfall rates. Moderate snowfall as we left the area at 1630 hours. Winds were light and temperatures remained around freezing throughout the day.
Snowpack
Very heavy and wet new snow from the previous 24 hours. Probably the wettest and heaviest snow that I have ever ridden in Colorado during a storm. Roughly 2' of new snow in all areas from parking area at 8500' to riding areas at 10,400'. Total snowpack increases significantly around 10,000' at all aspects. Observed a variety of exposure above treeline with more snow coverage than the last time we rode the area (Sunday). Also observed significant wind loading on NE aspect.
Avalanche
We observed numerous natural avalanches very small in size (r1 d1) along the side of the trail primarily on W aspect. These appear to have ran early morning as they all had an additional 6" or so of fresh snow on top of them. Crown appeared to range fro 6"-12". One larger avalanche was observed on an E aspect across the valley just north of upper beaver meadows. As the sky cleared briefly around 1500 hours, we observed a much larger avalanche (r2 d2) in the distance above treeline on a ridge with a N aspect. I believe this ran sometime through the day as it looked fresh from our vantage point roughly 1.25 miles north of seen avalanche. We did conduct a few test cuts on slopes along the trail ranging in steepness from 30-35 degrees with no activity observed.