Southern San Juan
AvalancheMatt Huber Chris Bilbrey · Jan 19, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Very light snowfall during most of the trip with only a trace of new snow accumulation. Winds were not strong enough to drift new snow but signs of previous drifting on westerly-facing slopes were apparent.
Snowpack
25 to 30 centimeters of new snow fell overnight. Storm snow was light and fluffy, right-side up and lacked enough cohesion to present a hazardous slab. Total snowpack depth is about 150 cm. The new snow is producing non-propagating, easy failures at the new snow interface and at an early-storm density change within the storm snow. The 12/11 crust facet layer is now buried 75 centimeters below the surface, visible but unreactive. We observed cracks in front of our skis and en echelon cracking on slopes near 35 degrees, but no slab release. This was more widespread where new snow was sitting above a faceted crust.
Avalanche
Intentionally triggered small R1 D1 jus below ridgeline near treeline on an east-facing slope. The avalanche ran only a couple hundred feet, barely making it out of the start zone