Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Jan 26, 2021 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Broken skies in the morning turned overcast around mid-day. Light snow started around 2pm. Light blowing snow all day. Recent storm snow totaled 2-3" in North Canyon, and around 8-10" near Slumgullion Pass.

Snowpack

The avalanche paths that impact the highway through North Canyon hold very thin snowcover. None hold more than a foot of snow. Recent storm snow is only 2-3" deep in this area that rests above 0-8" of crust-topped facets. A few tiny loose dry avalanche piled snow in the ditch sometime recently (before the most recent snow). These loose avalanches gouged through the entire snowpack, illustrating how weak the old snow is where it exists. Turkey Foot and the summit banks hold continuous layer of weak snow, but lack a slab.

Avalanche

Got to glass many dozens of avalanche paths on a variety of aspects and saw no slab avalanches.