Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Nalli, Davis, Mellick, Greene · Jan 28, 2020 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Winds died off early AM. Clear and calm. Beautiful day in the mountains. The sun angle is creeping up and is noticeably a bit more intense here at the end of January.

Snowpack

9 inches of snow fell in the Red Mountain Pass area in the past 24 hours. Evidence of strong wind during the storm and overnight was visible everywhere near and above treeline. Ridgelines are stripped and stout sastrugi observed on some northwest and north facing slopes. Northeast through southeast through south slopes all have some degree of wind drifts at the surface and the new snow felt "upside down" but soft. Hollow and punchy with a smooth texture. Cross-loading is also prevalent in steep rocky features with a wavy rippled texture on many northeast slopes. We avoided slopes steeper than 35 degrees with wind drifts. The hardslab was too ominous to attempt to get very close. Outside of the wind effected terrain conditions were less of a slab and more settled storm snow. As you descend in elevation there is less of a slab. Sunny aspects became moist by mid day near and below treeline.

Avalanche

Clear signs of a small natural avalanche cycle observed on above treeline on northeast and southeast slopes. These avalanches likely occurred during the late afternoon and evening on Monday January 27, 2020 and were up to size 2.