Southern San Juan
AvalancheRowan Morris · Dec 14, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Lightly accumulating snow showers until about 11:00 then just overcast and cool. Breezes were generally light out of the southwest. Lots of rime and thick banks of freezing fog.
Snowpack
Depth and composition varied tremendously depending on aspect and elevation. Experienced a couple localized collapses on open easterly and northeasterly slopes while approaching treeline. Generally snow surface remained soft on sheltered northerly slopes near and below treeline with the recent storm snow having settled considerably. Still found weak snow in the lower pack on northerly and northeasterly slopes, especially near treeline, though these weak layers have lost some sensitivity compared to late last week and over the weekend.
Avalanche
Observed several small bank slides on N-NE-E slopes that likely ran on Friday. Saw one more significant, approaching D2 slide that also likely ran on Friday, on a NE facing slope between 35-40 degrees in steepness. It appeared to have broken, not in weak snow near the ground but on the interface below our most recent storm snow but still propagated across the path and piled up decent debris.