Northern San Juan
SnowpackAndrew Temple · Dec 14, 2014 · Northern San Juan
Weather
s-1 - s2 all day. thin overcast skies with good light. light winds. Riming observed on windward trees.
Snowpack
Avg. HS about 1M. HST about 12"-15". Surprisingly stout mid-pack slab, likely from the very warm temps the last few weeks. Seems like this mixed-poly layer is more resistant to deformation/faceting and is at this point is largely a non-reactive, supportive layer beneath the new snow. Boot Pen was only about 12" most places-pretty good for the 'Juans this time of year. Boot pen was deeper below 11,000' where the snowpack is predominantly unconsolidated facets and new snow. No signs of instability observed: No collapsing or cracking-was on unbroken trail all day. Sloughing was very minimal to non-existent on steep slopes. Steep test-slopes yielded no results. Saw no recent avalanches. Skiing was fast and supportive on cold snow. All of the sudden it feels like winter. This most recent storm didn't give us enough weight to cause a natural cycle, let alone much of an elevation in the danger below and near TL. That could've been a different story with 2-3" H2O but it seems like there is so much variability in the old-snow surfaces that avalanche activity would've been specific to only certain slopes on certain aspects.