Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Apr 2, 2019 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Cold start gave way to a quick warm-up. Bluebird skies in the morning with a thin layer of high clouds moving in around 1 pm and light winds above 11,000 feet.
Snowpack
Found generally safe avalanche conditions. Last night's hard freeze formed a stout surface crust on any slope that saw direct sunshine on Monday. Recent storm snow remains cold and dry on northerly-facing slopes near and above treeline. Loose wet activity was limited to long running rollerballs at higher elevations and isolated, small loose wet slides (D1) below treeline - originating from steep, rocky/ vegetated terrain. Southerly slopes near and below treeline warmed up enough to provide excellent corn conditions. Thin clouds in the afternoon prevented the snow surface from getting to warm.
Avalanche
Two loose wet slide crossed the main road during last weeks warm period that made crossing on sleds difficult. Decent amount of debris deposited in gully below the road and water running from cliffs just past the slide. This area is known to have running water most of the summer and wondering if that played a part in this slide being an outlier in terms of size compared to other activity in the range during the same period.