Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Jan 10, 2019 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

Mild day with overcast skies. Cloud deck began to lower around 2:30 pm then light snow started around 3 pm.

Snowpack

Storm snow and snowpack as a whole has settled and now very supportable. Widespread surface hoar (8 to 10 mm) in open, wind-sheltered areas. No cracking or collapsing while skinning, but observed several loud, audible collapses while skiing. Snowpits on east and west-southwest aspects below treeline produced propagating results in ECTs failing on facets at the ground. No snow movement on steeper treed slopes where we traveled.

Avalanche

We spotted several natural avalanches on northeast-facing slopes that most likely ran on 1/6/19 along the ridgeline spanning from Parrott to Madden to Star Peaks. All the slides were located in heavily wind-loaded terrain and only one produced wide propagation. None ran full path and most stopped within the track.