Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Becs Hodgetts · Jan 17, 2021 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Some gusts during the day, otherwise calm. A few clouds moving in and snow moist below on south slopes by 1pm.

Snowpack

There was ~1" HN from overnight on 1/16, dirfted to 4" in gully features. We traveled on north and east below treeline. HS varied from 30-60cm on steep east slopes averaged 80cm on north. Very different between the two aspects. Steep east were moist by 1pm, lower angle had breakable crust that would support skis, but boot pen was to ground. North were supportable to skis, with 50cm boot pen. No obvious signs of instability on either aspect. Near treeline, winds formed 10cm thick slabs in exposed areas and 5cm to 1cm thick in more sheltered spots. Cracking was minimal and only around skis as we traveled. On east slopes the thin wind crust was not bonded the the buried near surface facets below, and cracked/crumbled when isolating the column.