Northern San Juan
SnowpackJeff Davis · Feb 14, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Light snow. Little west wind with stronger gusts. Overcast.
Snowpack
Probing around on north and northwest aspects at 12,000 feet I found a snowpack where the height of snow ranged from 70-140cm. Shallower areas were closer to the ridge and likely affected by the wind. I dug in an area with 120 cm's of snow. A stiff pencil mid-pack observed under the most recent snow and makes up a majority of the snowpack. Snowpack tests highlight the basal facets as the layer of concern with hard test failures, but I also had a longer Extended Column test (120 wide) fail at 29 taps higher in the pack on likely a layer of near-surface facet buried before the most recent storm. The basal facets and depth hoar made up the bottom 30 cm's of the snowpack and were 4-6mm in size.