Northern San Juan
SnowpackAndrew Temple · Feb 20, 2011 · Northern San Juan
Weather
S1 and partly cloudy most of the day. Light to moderate ridgetop winds.
Snowpack
New snow fell "right-side up" --Began warm and high density and became low density with frontal passage. New snow fell on a myriad of crusts and facets but overall seemed to have bonded fairly well, at least where we were below treeline in a non wind affected area. The old snow in the trees has become quite weak and punchy with meter deep ski pen during skinning. Clear cold nights just keep chewing things up. No collapsing noted and only very isolated cracking, but I'm sure in wind-affected areas it's a much different story with more reactivity. No naturals observed, although visibility was not optimal. The wind smoothed out the snow surface making for quite velvety and supportive powder skiing.