Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Apr 29, 2020 · Southern San Juan
Weather
HOT! Sunny with a light northeast breeze along ridge tops and in alpine.
Snowpack
Clear nights are lending to superficial freezes that quickly break down under our warm temp, abundant sunshine regime. We found wet, soft snow on all aspects and elevations today. Surfaces facing east through south got wet and punchy by mid-morning with northerly-facing slopes staying supportable longer. Even in the alpine, the upper snowpack is softening and weakening with plenty of wet, weaker snow below the recently refrozen sub-surface layer. A snowpit on a northeast-facing slope around 11,200 feet showed an overall wet snowpack, but one that appears to be holding on for now. Weaker, wet poly crystal layers didn't produce propagating test results but broke with clean shears in compression test. Creeks are starting to open up as you approach treeline with more and more ground cover than snow below about 10,500 feet.
Avalanche
In addition to avalanches coded, numerous loose-wet slides (D1s) seen from a distance on north-facing slopes below treeline.