Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Nov 27, 2019 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Intermittent snow showers in the afternoon with minimal accumulation. Cold with periods of obscured visibility.

Snowpack

This area has been battered by wind recently with the majority of alpine terrain a mixture of wind-scoured areas next to wind-drifted areas. Northwest slopes near and below treeline terrain are starting to fill in, but still remain thin. Areas where snow cover is becoming deeper and more continuous is also where October snow lingered such as couloirs, gullies, and wind-protected terrain. We observed a couple moderate collapses once we climbed above 11,000 feet on a northwest-facing slope. Our ECTs produced propagating test results, but the slab was soft and fractured vertically after the crack crossed the entire column. If our next storm packs a punch, this area could see an increase in natural avalanche activity due to an overall weak structure and more continuous snow cover.

Avalanche

None Observed