Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis Ann Mellick · Jan 3, 2017 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold Temps, Cloudy sky, and light winds. No precip. was observed duration of the tour. Winds were light with guts in the low teens.
Snowpack
The snowpack was quite variable in the near-treeline elevation band on this north facing slope. HS ranged from 10cm's to over a meter. Shallow spots on exposed slopes and larger pockets of drifted snow in protected areas. The snowpack showed few signs of insatiability, but weak layers persist at the bottom of the snowpack in all hand pits. The most worrisome areas of snow observed were large pockets of wind-drifted snow just below protected areas or in cross-loaded terrain. These slopes had a 10-15cm Pencil hard slab on the surface. Below treeline very little slab was observed, but we were able to trigger small point release avalanches on steep slopes. These avalanche were small, soft slabs, and relativity harmless. These slides involved new snow and large cohesionless facets.
Avalanche
Multiple Small sluff avalanches that broke on steep slopes .