Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Jan 20, 2020 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Warm, sunny day with clear skies to start. By the late-afternoon, high clouds streaming overhead made temperatures feel even warmer than earlier in the day.

Snowpack

The snowpack below treeline continues to weaken as a whole to varying degrees with lots of cohesionless snow below 10,000 feet. This could be a big concern with our next significant load. Near treeline, we found generally safe riding conditions on northwest, north, and northeast-facing slopes. No cracking or collapsing observed. Extended Column Test only produced non-propagating results at recent storm interfaces in the upper snowpack. What we felt was the New Year interface was down around half a meter. There was a firm wind-slab above but this layer did not yield results in our test and consisted of rounding facets. Above treeline, the wind has had its way with the snow surface. Upper portion of slopes and ridge tops facing southwest to west through northwest are scoured down to bare ground while northeast to east through south-facing slopes in the alpine have reaped the benefits. Recent warm temperatures and lack of a big load recently appear to have helped the upper snowpack as a whole settle and stiffen.

Avalanche

Ghost town of recent avalanche activity in the La Plata Mountains.