Northern San Juan

Quick report

Jeff Davis · Jan 10, 2026 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Cold start, but around 11:30am, the wind stopped, and it started to warm up.

Snowpack

Digging on an east aspect above treeline in a drifted area, I found a hard surface over a large layer of facets and depth hoar. The weak layers were 4-finger and 2-4mm in size. Long column tests showed failures at the ground, but the surface was so stiff that it affected those weak layers seems challenging.

Avalanche

Friday's snow and wind triggered an isolated natural cycle, consisting mostly of loose avalanches on southeast slopes. I did observe one slab avalanche on an east-northeast aspect. Larger avalanche coded https://avalanche.state.co.us/report/93a0f216-fdc4-4de1-8364-fe4efc272074