Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey Jeff Davis · Dec 31, 2020 · Southern San Juan
Weather
A mild, overcast day with a light breeze. Every now and again, we'd see a few flakes fly in the sky but that was about it.
Snowpack
The snowpack appears to be anomalously deeper and slightly stronger in the Columbus Basin area than in other parts of the La Plata Mountains. The northern half of the range has received more snow this season and settled snow depths are almost double to similar elevation and aspect south of Boren Creek. Snowfall since December 11th has settled into a 50 cm thick 4F to 1F slab above weaker facets. The buried facet layer is slightly harder and less advanced compared to slopes within the range harboring shallower snow depths. In between the two stormy periods in December, a thin layer of near-surface facets developed, but neither that layer or the December 11th interface/ facet layer was reactive in stability test. We did, however, observe numerous localized collapses on northwest through north to east aspects where we traveled. Some occurred on our second trip up the skin track and often times by the second skier. This suggest a stubborn weak layer but one that with the right conditions or a steep enough slope could fail producing an avalanche.
Avalanche
Hardly any evidence of natural activity after our last storm event. All slides observed were small and confined to northwest-facing slopes below and close to the near treeline band. No visible slides in alpine terrain.