Northern San Juan
AvalancheKerry Hanes · Dec 11, 2016 · Northern San Juan
Weather
1 PM. 500-mtrs ENE of Hwy 550/RMP, NNW aspect, 11,400'. Broken clouds. No precip. Above TL near ridge tops winds were strong. Near TL winds were light, occasionally moderate near the pass. Earlier in the day there was light snow and wind transport above TL and in exposed areas like the pass.
Snowpack
HS at and below TL along route varied from 35-80 cm, mostly about 60 cm, E of 550/RMP. Above TL the snow is very wind affected. Lots of exposed ground or very thin snowpack on ridges above TL. On N side of Putney, 12,100', in an isolated vein of snow amongs almost bare slopes, a hasty pit showed HS 80, CTE4 on <1mm facets 10-cm below surface and a DT15 on <1 mm facets 40 cm below surface.
Avalanche
About 500-mtrs ENE of RMP, on skier's left of the O Boy run, NNW aspect, 11,400'. SS-ASc-R3-D1.5 on approx 50-deg pitch just below the mid-way bench of O Boy, skier's left of the main run. Poor ski cut strategy, lacking a clean exit, put skier in slide and unable to hang on bed surface. Slide propagated 3-mtrs uphill of skier, was about 12-mtrs wide, and ran 70-mtrs. Crown ranged from 10-cm to 30-cm. No injury to skier who was able to ski out of debris deposit after bobbing chin deep in the flowing snow.