Northern San Juan
SnowpackSusan Hale · Apr 21, 2011 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partly to mosttly cloudy, gusty, chilly SW wind.
Snowpack
New snow has settled and developed a breakable crust (some places firm enough to support our skis, esp near & above TL). This softened up to some extent with daytime warming. Above treeline new snow was thinner and the old surface beneath the new snow was firm and generally bonded with the new. Near treeline and below found deeper new snow and a rain layer that remained moist (insulated from freezing). This remains a poor bond between the new snow slab and older snow (failed easily with a couple of hand tests). It was still cold enough to be nonreactive but a better warm-up could make steeper slopes hazardous. Saw one very shallow natural slab release (thin new snow) on a NW aspect above TL that ran almost full track 1500'. Earlier thought this was a larger sluff/point release till had better visibility to see little crowns.