Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Mark Gober · Jan 7, 2018 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Blue skies and calm winds below ridgeline. There was a little transport going on above 12k

Snowpack

We stayed mostly on the road so did not get a ton of info. But, where we did it was on below treeline, northwest facing woods. There was existing 20-30cm of snow prior to this storm which was all facets going to full depth hoar. The 25cm of new snow on top was not supportive or slabby so ski penetration was to the ground. It will not handle much snow before failure. Haven't been into the alpine but if the new snow has any slab, triggering a slide would be quite possible. There was an avalanche off of Storm Peak into Velocity Basin. Told to me by a friend- I could never see much of it where I was but he said a point release that came off of steep cliffs that triggered a slab. Thats about all I know at this point.