Southern San Juan
AvalancheEli Fahrenkrug · Jan 25, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
37.4914, -106.7874 Aspect: E, 86 deg Elev: 10822 Overcast, light to heavy snowfall
Snowpack
Large storm slab from snow starting Friday evening. Crown was about 18" - did not appear to have significant windloading, but the slab was more consolidated than other slopes we had skied in the last two days. Slab slid on top of icy freeze/thaw layer that was very hard upon inspection, roughly 1 cm thick.
Avalanche
Slide was triggered remotely on East facing slope around 35 deg - slope was roughly 20-30' away from ski cut made on low angle connected terrain. Heard the crack and watched the slide from safety. Crown was 18" in most spots, up to 24" where windloading was present, just below a local convexity. Appeared to break across the entire convex rollover, 250-300' wide. Slide ran to trees below, 100-200' feet before stopping in lower angle terrain. Upon inspection after the slide, the storm slab was quite consolidated. Slab slid on a very apparent freeze/thaw layer below it. Very clean break - quite hard and icy.