Northern San Juan
Quick reportChris Dickson · Jan 8, 2026 · Northern San Juan
Weather
6-10'" of new snow. Light winds, obscured skies except for a few moments where the clouds lifted, and temps in the low 20s. We did not observe any wind-transported snow.
Snowpack
We dug several pits at all elevation bands, mostly on north-facing slopes. Below treeline, the snowpack is mostly faceted underneath today's snow. Near treeline, the presence or lack of wind slabs in the midpack defines the variability of snowpack structure. The deeper areas features stiffer midpack slabs, bridging over very weak snow near the ground. The shallower areas have been weakened by the faceting process and the main concern is the new/old snow interface and then the December drought layer (the 12/25 PWL). Above treeline, the snowpack is similarly variable and driven by uneven redistribution of old snow by the winds. Regardless of the variables at play, we got propagating results in most of our pits on either the New Year's crust, the Christmas crust, or in weak snow near the ground. Bottomline: there are many different persistent weak layers within a meter of the surface for avalanches to fail on.
Avalanche
We saw a few small avalanches in the new snow. Small Storm slabs on steep banks and a few Dry Loose avalanches coming out of steep rocky terrain.