Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Apr 3, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Warm and sunny. Temperatures were in the 40's at pass level as early as 9 AM. Swamp Angel topped out at 47 degrees at 2 pm. Southerly winds increased in the afternoon hours.
Snowpack
The height of snow at the study plot averaged around 120 cm. The top 10 cm or so of the snowpack was sloppy, wet corn with a few inches of moist rounds below, all sitting on a very stout 20+ cm melt-freeze/ice crust. Below this, was around 45 cm of 1f to pencil-hard rounds riddled with perc columns. A distinct ice/melt-freeze layer existed around 65 cm down. The base of the snowpack was 30 cm of what was formerly depth hoar, but is now 2-3 mm rounded grains that had some characteristics of melt forms, but lacked obvious evidence of melt water infiltration. All layers showed signs of wet/moist snow metamorphism.
Avalanche
Loose slides in the new and recent snow on southerly and westerly aspects all elevations. Relatively isolated in the terrain, generally below rocky areas, and on very steep sun-exposed slopes.