Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Nov 25, 2020 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Mild temperatures and lots of sun. The light breeze along ridge tops keep temperatures from feeling too warm. No snow movement today in the alpine.

Snowpack

We found 4 to 6 inches of "right-side-up" storm snow above 11,000 feet that appears to be bonding well to the old snow surface. Below the recent storm snow on northwest, northeast, and east-facing slopes sits a razor this crust with about 10 cm of small, faceted grains below the crust. Despite snow depths generally less than a meter deep, the lower part of the snowpack and near the ground remains supportable, harder, and individual grains do not appear to be rapidly weakening. Our snowpit at the transition line between the near and above treeline elevation bands had a harder storm snow layer sitting above the buried crust than slightly lower in elevation. There, we observed slightly different stability test results, but the overlying snow load was not enough to contribute to propagating test results in our Extended Column Test. Basic standard scouring and drifting most pronounced in the alpine and only isolated areas in the near treeline band had wind-thickened pockets - no stout wind-drifted slab in the terrain we traveled in.

Avalanche

None Observed