Northern San Juan
SnowpackChris Dickson · Jan 22, 2025 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold temperatures and intermittent clouds throughout the day. Gusty winds out of the west-northwest.
Snowpack
In Alta Lakes, I dug on a west-facing slope below treeline and found a distinctly layered snowpack, showing the December drought facets lurking underneath the Christmas storm, the 12/28 rain crust, and the slab of snow we've received since the new year. Here, the snowpack is essentially all fist-hard facets, and long column tests yielded no failures. I dug another pit near treeline on a west-facing slope in a spot where wind affects the snowpack. Here, I found a pencil-hard wind-stiffened slab sitting in the midpack, and I got a hard non-propagating failure below this hard slab (ECTN24). In Bear Creek, I once again looked for a near treeline slope to search for the "Goldilocks slab", where human-triggering is most likely. I dug in a wind-drifted area and found a 5cm thick wind slab on the surface, and then a 1-finger-hard slab in the midpack, sitting over the December drought layer. This combination once again proved stubborn in tests, with an ECTX. Just because I didn't find that not-so-sweet spot doesn't mean it's not out there... Above treeline, the winds have created a patchwork of breakable crust, hard wind board, and soft wind duff. Highly variable riding conditions from turn to turn. We found a 5cm-thick breakable wind board that cracked under ski pressure, but was isolated. Below treeline exits in Bear Creek are still shallow, weak, and occasionally unsupportive to skis. Trapdoor facets exist in the forested areas at lower elevations.