Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Mar 17, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Temperatures above freezing below 11k. South winds were strong to moderate in the alpine, but lighter below treeline. Cloud clover developed in the morning and stuck around until early evening.
Snowpack
A 5-15 cm crust sits on the surface of the snowpack. The crust supported my weight, even at low elevations, until later in the day. Below the crust the snowpack is deep into the spring transition, but not fully there on all slopes. On shallow sunny slopes water has made it to the ground, but on slopes that face more northerly or over a meter deep dry snow sits above the ground. On all slopes, sought melt-freeze crusts exist somewhere in the pack, but snowpack tests did not highlight any failures. The most react storm snow has settled quickly and a small facet layer is below the surface crust. This layer could be problematic with a large load.
Avalanche
No new avalanches observed.