Southern San Juan

Snowpack

Susan Hale · Jan 31, 2013 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Very nice mild day. Moderate- stronger winds from earlier this morning had diminished to 5 mph or less by our tour. Strong sun was causing tree-bombs by mid-day.

Snowpack

Note: We stayed on very mild, low angle terrain, well below treeline. N-NE aspects: Snow ranged from 5' to 6' deep and well settled. Strong northerly winds from previous day stiffened surfaces up high but skiing was still fairly soft, not breakable. This was not deep powder skiing, but supportive and fast. S-SE aspects: Shallower, ranging 4' at most in protected areas, to about 2'-3' in open exposed terrain. This was the 1st full sunny day since the new snow, so it was easy to trigger large pinwheels on steeper terrain. Skis gobbed in transitions between warm and cold snow. >Noted significant but variable wind affect near and above treeline (not stripped but sculpted). The wind also filled in many of the old crowns above treeline (note - our view was for mainly N-NE-E).