Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Discovered it's not time to let your guard down. Initial snowfall may have bonded to old surfaces, but facets have developed on top of the dust layer that came at the beginning of the storm. The storm snow varies in depth from 6"-8" on sunny aspects to 18+" where I was. Selected a NW aspect, 30deg slope for quick stability test. Down 40cm, got CT10 & CT14 results on well developed 2-3mm striated cups (DH) that were perched on top of the new dust crust. Gave it a Q1 due to fast, smooth failure, even though it didn't pop off the column (not so steep). The friable dust crust was about 2cm thick, In picture you can see where I raked my fingers across the facets left on top of the column. Did not experience collapse or cracking. Another person reported cracking yesterday in NW glades. Also heard a third party report of a large avalanche in the Paradise Basin area - aspect, elevation unknown.