Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey Jeff Davis · Apr 11, 2024 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Sunny and warm. Light northerly winds in the alpine.
Snowpack
Despite consecutive days of above freezing temperatures, the snowpack continues to hold together. We found a supportive snow surface to foot travel across many aspects at lower and mid elevations this morning. Probing across slopes, the upper snowpack is a mish-mesh of crust and re-frozen melt-forms. We found evidence of perc columns and moist grains well over a meter deep when digging on a south-southeast aspect around 11,800 feet. About 2 feet below the surface, there is a notably weaker melt-form layer (1F-) sitting below and above harder layers. This layer will be the main concern for rider-triggered wet slabs once we progress into a period of above freezing night temperatures adding an extra pulse of water into the snowpack. Additionally, superficial loose slides have potential to gouge into this layer or even deeper as more of the snowpack softens in the coming days. The fact that the snowpack has already been introduced to meltwater from prior warm-ups may reduce the natural, "shock-to-the-system" wet slab threat. By the time we descended lower in elevation exiting the mountains, boot penetration got progressively deeper. As the most recent dust layer emerges on more slopes, surface warming, wetting, and broader wet snow hazards may develop quicker than anticipated.