Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Davis · Mar 14, 2021 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Snow showers on and off throughout the morning. Winds calm below treeline stronger at higher elevations. Temperatures in the low 20's. Felt humid.

Snowpack

So far, around 10 inches of snow has fallen in the Red Mountain Pass area. The snow has been low density, and very little slab observed on protected slopes. On sunny slopes, like Willow Swamp, the snow is falling on a stiff 5-10 cm melt-freeze crust but appears to be bonding well. Below the crust, small facets surround by the recent dust layer. This slope showed that though southeast slopes are not an issue, we can not forget about them with the forecast incremental loading over the next week. The Blue Point master stake is up over ~15" in this storm and around 20" since we last did mitigation. With continued snow into the evening hours, we will try and pull some of the new snow out in the morning.

Avalanche

I triggered a very small pocket on a north facing slope below treeline on an open cross-loaded drift. The pocket that broke between ski turns. It did not gain mass or ran more than a few feet but I took note of it none the less.