Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeremy Yanko · Feb 16, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Scattered clouds with light northwest winds
Snowpack
Previously wind-loaded features that are steep and convex are still a likely spot to initiate an avalanche. This particular path had slid nearly ear to ear around Jan 12th. Found that the new slab that has been built up to 40cm thick since then and was reactive to skier pressure and had presumably failed on a repeat bed surface comprised of a faceted Melt-freeze crust.
Avalanche
northeast aspect at ~11,000Ft. Skier triggered from cutting across the start zone near a previously wind-loaded convex roll feature. The slide peeled from the Northeast aspect into the easterly portion of the path and appeared to have failed on a faceted melt-freeze crust suspected to have formed during an unusual warm period in mid-December. This path had seen similar natural activity around January 12th. The slab itself was on the softer side of a hard slab but hand hardness test scale near the bottom of the profile was 4F+/1F-.