Northern San Juan
AvalancheMatt Steen · Jan 1, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Mostly cloudy for much of the day. Breaking cloud cover around 2pm. Very cold.
Snowpack
Around a meter+ of snow on the east aspects near and below treeline of Swamp Canyon. The bottom ~40cm is entirely faceted and very weak. Large grained facets and depth hoar. Moderate CT failures on this layer below and near TL. Collapsing the slope near the pit location at 11,800' east aspect. This area is exposed to the wind, but only had a small 10cm 1 finger slab within the upper 60cm of the pack. The remainder of the snow is soft with fist hardnesses.
Avalanche
Numerous avalanches on west aspects observed. These likely released on New Years eve during the strong southerly winds. Some crowns appeared near 6' deep. R2D2 below the Magnum on South Lookout. North of South Lookout (Sunset Bowl) large 650' wide crown with 6' deep R3D3. North Lookout west aspect with a long running debris pile. R3D3. Southwest and north aspects near Ophir Pass both R2D2 with one slide over-running the Ophir Pass road.