Northern San Juan
AvalancheAmy Pertuz · Jan 29, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Increasing clouds with temps in the 20s. Gusty S/SW winds but no significant blowing snow observed where we travelled.
Snowpack
The snowpack has gained significant depth in the past week. On W aspects NTL, a tenuous 4F+ midpack slab protects the large facets below from the new snow and windslabs above. We found this structure pretty spooky, and experienced one large collapse. On NW aspects NTL, the new snow is drifted deeply in some places, but the only reactive interface we experienced was ~30cm below the surface, where a F hard layer of recent storm snow is sandwiched between two stiffer layers. BTL the snow remains cohesionless in many places. HS on a NW aspect at TL 165cm.
Avalanche
A recent natural cycle was seen mainly on NE slopes NTL and ATL, to size 2. Some W NTL slides within the storm snow were also observed, to size 1.5