Northern San Juan
AvalancheAmy Pertuz · Feb 3, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Windy. Moderate to strong SW winds were creating moderate and at times intense blowing snow. A few inches of new accumulation, which was mostly graupel, near and below TL. There was a surprising amount of blowing snow considering modest new accumulations and suncrusted fetches on SW aspects. Wind-driven snow could be found in protected areas below TL.
Snowpack
Evidence of this week's warmup could be seen on all but northerly aspects. in lower elevations BTL, the new snow fell on a moist surface, but at 11,000ft the old surface was refrozen and bonding well in the area I travelled. Today's snow was dense, large-grained graupel, and was already redistributed by the wind into areas with wind lenses adjacent to stripped snow in close proximity BTL and NTL. Periods of intense blowing snow was tipping the balance on Northerly aspects today. Unusual conditions out there.. unusual avalanches seem possible.
Avalanche
I witnessed a large natural on the NW ATL face of Red 3 in the afternoon, during a period of intense crossloading by SW winds. The crown appears to be quite deep, and have run to ground in some places. SS-N-R3-D.5-o/g. The same blowing snow was rapidly loading the Hollywood and Champion paths. Also seen was a fresh natural on the true summit of Red 2, NE aspect ATL, approximately a meter deep, SS-N-R2-D2-o, in the Midnight area. Across the way on Red 1 was a recent natural on a W aspect ATL, also apparently triggered by cross-loading in a gully, SS-N-R2-D2. Small fresh slabs were seen BTL on a variety of aspects, mostly NW-N-E