Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 9, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Overcast and warm. Light SW winds at pass level.
Snowpack
Paths on Molas and Coal Bank have seen a lot of effect from our recent warm-up without the benefit of the snow we received north of Silverton. Crusts formed on highway paths on all aspects on the 1st and 2nd of the month. Southerly-facing paths like Henry Brown and the Engineers now have an HS of between 0 and 16" and the snowpack is composed of a couple inches of F-hard mixed forms on top of a thick, supportable crust up to 6" thick. Under this are very moist rounding facets to the ground. The snowpack is, or is very close to, isothermal top to bottom in these paths. Shadier paths like West Lime have a much thinner and weaker crust, but it still exists. Surface snow is the same. Most of the concerning strong-over-weak structure that exists below treeline in this area has been removed from this path with mitigation. The stubborn slope on the gunner's right is still intact, but most of the path has run with prior mitigation. Case charges on January 25th did not produce any results.
Avalanche
No new activity observed.