Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick Jeff Davis · Dec 2, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Sunny and mild with some high clouds building through the day. Light NW winds in the alpine.
Snowpack
Quite variable depending on aspect and elevation. In the alpine: last week's gale force winds variably stripped and loaded slopes. We found 1+ meter pockets of snow sitting directly adjacent to areas with grass sticking out. North slopes are the most loaded but lots of side loading of terrain features can be seen. Below treeline, the snowpack is becoming less reactive with time, though we did trigger several collapses on northerly terrain. The snowpack on westerly terrain below treeline was generally thin (70 cm) and weak (faceting and lacking slab). No cracking or collapsing there.
Avalanche
We continue to see evidence of the widespread natural avalanche cycle that happened during the Thanksgiving storm. Some slides showed impressive propagation. Most action was on N and NE terrain near and above tl.