Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 15, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Bluebird morning gave way to mostly cloudy skies by midday. Light but gusty northwest winds. A short-lived snow squall passed through around 1 pm.
Snowpack
Southerly-facing aspects had a mix of melt/freeze crusts and wet snow on the surface up to 12,000 ft. Clouds and wind moved in during the afternoon and helped to cool off the snow surface. Northerly aspects had 6-8" of Fist-hard facets over hard wind slabs and rounding facets. In many areas, these slabs were Knife-hard and slick. Winds from earlier this week had stripped the recent snow from the ridge above about 12,000', leaving P-K-hard windslabs and sastrugi. Other than the recent avalanches on a nearby southeast aspect, no signs of instability observed.
Avalanche
Three D2 avalanches on a southeast aspect above Minnehaha Basin. These are repeat performers, they ran during the late December storm cycle.