Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey Jeff Davis · Feb 14, 2020 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Beautiful, spring like day in the mountains with ample sunshine. Light southwest winds above 12,000 feet kept temperatures cool.
Snowpack
We traveled at all elevations and on multiple aspects and found generally safe avalanche conditions. By mid-morning, below treeline snow surface warmed quickly and even became moist on east and southerly-facing terrain. Above 12,000 feet the snow surface remained cold and dry with recycled powder (surface faceting) on shady slopes. We saw plenty of evidence from recent strong winds in the alpine - lots of scouring down to rocks below ridge tops on northerly-facing terrain along with firm wind-board surfaces and sastrugi. Once we dropped below exposed ridgelines, we found generally softer snow conditions with isolated ares of breakable crust but no shooting cracks.