Northern San Juan
SnowpackAngela Hawse · Dec 1, 2016 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Bluebird morning with cool temps kept snow surfaces cool. Calm to Light NW wind with clouds increasing by 1:00 to mostly cloudy in the afternoon.
Snowpack
From 11,000 to 12,300' the HS ranged from 25 - 65cm. On lee E and NE aspects below ridge tops we found pockets of 100-150cm with isolated wind slab and small cornices in the usual places. Below the ridge on a ENE aspect @ 12,300' we dug a quick pit with an HS of 100cm. On this lee feature we found a 65cm P hard slab on top of 15cm of basal facets (1mm), capped with 20cm of 4F snow. Two CT's had easy to moderate failures to the ground. Otherwise we found the snowpack to be supportable but lacked any slab structure on most of our tour. Great skiing with typical early season hazards.