Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Ann Mellick · Feb 15, 2011 · Northern San Juan

Weather

sunny, mild, south wind 10-20. clouds thickening through day from clear to high clouds to overcast by 5 pm

Snowpack

In a word, VARIABLE. Westerly slopes that we ascended varied an incredible amount from one spot to the next with no real pattern- some areas were top to bottom facets while others had a supportive slab underlying surface facets. Some areas had hollow and reactive smooth, hard windslabs. Slopes that rolled to the south had defined melt-freeze crusts at the surface. These crusts were quite hearty, but were suprisingly not that thick (~2 cm). Predictably, crusts had facets below them and failed upon isolation. Some crusts were quite smooth too- none of this bodes well for the incoming storm... South wind blowing 10-20 mph kept surface snow from heating up too much today at the higher elevs. Northerly slopes near and above treeline were very slabby. Winds have left slopes riddled with windslabs. Slabs sit on facets and older slabs. 4-6" surface slabs were easily skier triggered, but only popped out chunks of snow rather than propagating across the whole slope. Facets have eaten away at surface snow leaving some spots riffly and nice, but its mostly slabby.