Southern San Juan

Snowpack

Sage Potter · Mar 4, 2024 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

Weather was very nice, sun was partially obscured by a thin cloud layer that covered most of the sky. Temps and wind were both mild. Obvious signs of high wind during the previous 24hrs.

Snowpack

Dug a pit at 10266' on a West facing aspect. Only found 145cms of snow so I decided to dig to the ground and see what the slab was resting on. CT4RP @down135cm worried me. My cut on the back of the block wasnt the greatest so that could have given a false "positive" result. Decided to do an ECT and find out how likely the 'pack was to launch'. ECTX, with a clean backwall after I pulled the block off. When I inserted my shovel to pull the block, the block fractured at the ground and produced a noticable collapse. I interpreted these results to mean the following, "Unlikely to initiate an avalanche unless you find the shallow spot, if you find that shallow spot the entire seasons snowpack will likely fail, causing a very destructive Hard Slab avalanche."