Northern San Juan
AvalancheBrady Caspar · Jan 29, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Sunshine peak, west fork of the tuning fork, north aspect, 11,100 ft. Sunny all day, high 20s to low 30s, light southerly wind blowing over Sunshine and down the tuning fork chutes.
Snowpack
Light low density snow 4-6 inches deep on top of a supportive medium density layer.
Avalanche
We saw the debris of one large slide that was clearly triggered very recently from when we arrived at the debris pile. This slide started near the top of the western-most tuning fork chute, a northern aspect. We didn't pick up and signals during a transceiver search of the area. We confirmed later in the parking lot that the slide was triggered by a solo skier who was skiing the chute top to bottom. Sluff from his initial turns entrained enough snow to slide from close to 12,000 ft all the way to the toe near 11,000 ft. The slide covered the width of the chute and spread out and stopped shortly after the choke point around 11,200 ft.