Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Peak Mtn Guides Level 1 Course · Jan 1, 2017 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Mostly cloudy & clearing toward sunset, snowing 1-2cm/hr, winds light.

Snowpack

3-4 discernible interfaces; lack of weak/strong layering at interfaces. Height of snow was 124cm. Interfaces at 10cm down from surface (new snow); 35cm from surface; 90cm from surface; 110 cm with most developed faceting. Snowpack progressively harder as we moved down from the surface. overall very hard cohesive snow. Performed compression test, deep tap test, extended column test, and the propagation saw test targeting above layers. No test showed potential for propagation.

Avalanche

Observed one avalanche over a week old. Possibly from 12/25 or earlier. Soft slab, unknown trigger, Small (D1.5), ran in old snow. ENE, 11,300ft, in lower Senator Beck drainage.