Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey Jeff Davis · Jan 29, 2020 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

A sunny start gave way to increasing clouds during the day. Some of the clouds were dark and ominous but no precipitation observed. Temperatures climbed near the freezing mark by mid-day but quickly cooled during the afternoon as cloud cover expanded.

Snowpack

Today, we set out to hunt the Persistent Slab problem on South and Southeast facing slopes near and above treeline. A pit was dug on each of these aspects near treeline at ~11,700' within 100 meters of one another. The biggest difference found between aspects was depth and slab thickness. Southeast facing slopes are deeper due to strong northwest winds. A layer of buried facets sits between two wind slabs in the top 50 cm's of the snowpack. This layer was reactive and propagated in snowpack tests. The snowpack on a south facing slope is under a meter and consisted of a mixture of crusts and facets, but was less reactive.

Avalanche

None observed