Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Feb 22, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Warm and sunny day with a light breeze along ridge tops.
Snowpack
Below treeline slopes facing south, southwest, and west got moist on the surface by mid-afternoon. Snow was glopping to our skins and top of skis with ease. Despite surface moistening, we only observed moist snow grains down around an inch or two from the surface where we traveled. Northwest aspects held colder snow on the surface but was quickly setting up from today's warm temperatures. Our most recent warming trend has allowed the upper snowpack below treeline to settle, stiffen, and was supportable to both skis and boots. Weaker, softer facets still lurk in the lower snowpack on west-facing terrain but was unreactive in our ECTs. It appears a big storm load or major warmup is needed for weak facets to be a concern on southwest and west-facing slopes in this area. A similar lower snowpack structure on those slopes in other areas of the South San Juan could come back to haunt us during wet snow season.
Avalanche
A few old crowns still visible on the northwest face near treeline. However, recent drifting has made it tough to discern overall size and depth.