Northern San Juan
AvalancheSusan Hale Josh Hirshberg · Mar 13, 2015 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Very pleasant, mild weather with mostly calm winds. Partly cloudy to mostly sunny on the Prospect Basin side of the McMillan ridge. Breezy and more cloud cloud cover on the west side of the ridge - interestingly the weather seemed to be concentrated west of the divide. Through the day noticed clouds in-and-out, mainly to the south and west with only a flake or two seen anywhere.
Snowpack
The snowpack has settled 12-15 inches on our HS stakes since our recent storm. Has become very supportive - boot pen very shallow. Most places the new slab has settled to a 1F to Pencil hardness. Surfaces were slightly moist with a consistent texture of shallow warm-powder-skiing esp the NW aspect we descended (the exception would be the most protected or flatter terrain). Recent cloud cover may have contributed to this consistency. Pit dug on SE aspect in Prospect Basin - it was a stout mix of heafty slabs sandwiched by crust/facet layers - some very thick and difficult to saw thru. Roughly midpack we found a facet/crust interface that was reactive enough to warrant concerns for future PS problems, especially with an extended warmup (CT 15 & 19). See profile below.
Avalanche
Upper Prospect had evidence of numerous slab releases associated with the recent storm - now many days old. Aspects affected were E-NE above and below TL.