Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Dec 4, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Light winds and clear skies, bluebird Colorado day. Temperatures warmed from the teens in the morning to the mid-thirties by midday.
Snowpack
The snowpack averaged around 60 cm in wind-protected areas near and below treeline. From the pass up to about 12,000', the top 20-30 cm was fist-hard mixed forms with facets dominating. Lower layers were still fairly well-consolidated, 1f-hard faceting rounds. Above this elevation, winds had stiffened the snow into several layers of pencil-hard wind slabs interspersed with some soft patches of faceted snow. This week's snow was largely indistinguishable from the rest of the snowpack except where it had formed some thin, fresh slab and crusts near ridgeline. I experienced some localized cracking in these slabs, but no propagation, collapses or whumpfing.
Avalanche
A small loose slide from the cliffs right behind the main parking on the pass.