Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick Jeff Davis · Feb 5, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partly cloudy and cold with a steady north wind (20mph). Definitely not picnic weather.
Snowpack
Fierce southerly winds unevenly distributed the modest amount of dense and dusty snow that fell during the last storm. Gullies are heavily cross loaded and the deepest pockets have been found on northerly slopes near treeline. On a southeast slope just above treeline we found: 3-15cm pencil-hard surface wind slabs sitting on older faceted grains below. These slabs were hollow and quite variable across the slope. Pit tests revealed the weakest interface mid pack (ECTN 24). While this layer did not propagate in pit testing, it remains of concern with future loading due to the poor snowpack structure and large-grained facets and depth hoar.
Avalanche
No new