Northern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Jan 19, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold to start, pleasant by midday and into the afternoon. Temperatures quickly cooled in the shade and once the sun dropped below ridgetops. Light southerly winds with the occasional moderate gust.
Snowpack
A variety of snow surfaces exist across aspects and with elevation change. Slopes facing east through south to west have a varying thickness crust on the surface, and some slopes exhibit signs of early-spring sun cupping and rotten surfaces from fallen debris at lower elevations. Slightly shaded east and west aspects hold a mixture of "hot pow" next to thin zipper crust. Alpine slopes in this area did not escape steady strong winds since the New Year with hard surfaces next to unconsolidated surfaces next to rocky/ bare ground areas. Northerly and wind-sheltered slopes near treeline harbor the softest and most desirable surface conditions at present. Probing across a northwest to north-facing slope near treeline revealed height of snow between 120 to 155 cm's and 15 to 25 cm of weak snow at the ground. No cracking or collapsing observed on our travels, even on northerly-facing slopes with old snow below a stout slab. It appears the overlying slab has won the current battle with weaker snow below, but shallow weaker snowpack areas exist around rocky outcrops and on the margins of slabs. Areas of slopes where winds have peeled back the depth of the overlying slab are weakening quickly and will be a concern once a new slab forms above. We found frozen pools of meltwater in dry snow around 35 cm below the surface in a southeast snowpit around 12,000 feet.
Avalanche
No new avalanches observed.