Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Jeremy Yanko · Dec 7, 2021 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Cloud banks and flurries were in and out giving way to mostly obscured visibility. Winds were calm from the northwest.

Snowpack

The overnight storm snow measured 6.5" with .5" SWE at the trailhead- 10,500ft. Similar snow depths were found on the way up to ~12,000 ft. The due west aspect had a supportable (to skis) crust under the new snow. The smallest shift to north of west was mostly unsupportable- faceted mess. Surface cracking was observed within a 15 foot radius of my steps near treeline. I dug in a shallow 70 cm snowpack on a west aspect at 11,900 ft. Two decomposing crusts were found sandwiched between faceted grains of different sizes on this slope. (see snow profile). I'd call this structure fragile at best.