Northern San Juan
AvalancheChris Dickson · Jan 17, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
S1-S2 snowfall with moderate winds, gusting strong. New snow around 2".
Snowpack
The snowpack was talkative and as such, we chose lower angle terrain to travel on. However, as soon as we got close to micro-terrain features, we realized the potential for remote-triggering and the slide released on a vegetated slope harboring weak snow near the ground. The avalanche failed on basal weak layers and entrained the entire season's snowpack (around a meter deep).
Avalanche
Two groups traveling on these low angle south facing meadows potentially simultaneously remote-triggered this avalanche. One group found themselves below this gully, and one group found themselves above this gully. The group traveling below the gully recognized the overhead hazard and traveled one at time across the slidepath. As the second skier began skinning across the path, they felt a collapse, and looked up and observed the avalanche release. The debris swept down, piling up around 6' deep on the road and continued down the slope for another 200'. The group above the gully, also felt the collapse, but was standing on 25* terrain and observed the avalanche release about 100' below them. No one was caught, carried, or injured, but a spooky close call.