Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Jan 17, 2017 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Low clouds continued to hover in the valley bottoms. Cloud covered increased from the South throughout the morning. Winds were light and temperatures mild.
Snowpack
Today, I traveled at all elevations and on E-N-W facing slopes. Isolated pockets of cohesive surface-slabs produced cracking in the surface snow. These pockets were developed by previous wind-loading and most widespread on exposed ridgelines. Large cornice features were observed on an East facing ridge. At lower elevation the surface snow is dense and a surface crust was observed in isolated areas. Small facets were observed on the snow surface. Besides isolated cracking on other collapsing or new activity was observed.
Avalanche
Widespread previous avalanche activity was observed in surface layers on North and East slopes. On Large Hard-slab avalanche was observed on the the SE face of Sheep. Looked to be over a week old.