Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeremy Yanko · Mar 14, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
High thin clouds streamed in by early afternoon. North winds kept the alpine cool.
Snowpack
Found 4-5" of new snow from the storm overnight while traveling from 10k-12,400ft on an E/SE ridge. The now buried 1f 2cm crust was easy to collapse and break under ski weight up to treeline. Surface warming was evident before 12pm and moist below 11k by mid afternoon. The recent storm and March storm layers below remained cold and dry and had not formed a new crust lense on this southeast slope at 12,377ft. Light loading from north winds was evident on only the highest surrounding peaks above 13k.
Avalanche
Making a move off a southeast facing ridge to route around a cliff band and missed my intended point of entry into a northeast facing gulley that had previously slid around 2/25. Ending up lower, I took one hard turn on a concavity adjacent to the planned route heading toward a knoll to look for the old crown line when the slope fractured and failed just below my track 16-18" deep on the 2/21 faceted layer. The slab moved slow but widened and gained mass as it plowed down a steep 38+ degree rocky feature into the drainage. Worked down the bed surface for the exit. Natural Avalanche observed across the valley in upper Blair Gulch estimated to have run around 3/9.