Northern San Juan
Snowpackmarkus beck · Jan 17, 2013 · Northern San Juan
Weather
The 2nd balmy day out since the frigid cold of recent! No winds, no clouds. Temp difference between day and night is significant (think melt-freeze on S'ly slopes and surface and near-surface faceting elsewhere); that same applies also to shaded and sunny aspects during the day.
Snowpack
Varied + Complex. To the flip-flopping winds building areas of soft and hard wind slab around and above treeline on all aspects, add the sun effects in form of rapid day time warming, melt-freeze crusts (to at least 12,000ft) and a compacting upper snowpack all prevalent on S'ly slopes. Meanwhile on shaded slopes the snow remains cool to cold and is faceting to the point where nearly all terrain below treeline is completely faceted out. THE GOOD NEWS: Where the spx is thin, Where the spx consists of facets with no slab or a slab less than 20cm, it is nearly impossible to trigger a slab avalanche. The skiing on shaded slopes at/below treeline is quite good. THE BAD NEWS: It is tough to come up with any kind of pattern where to expect wind slab and where not. Furthermore, the good skiing is found on slopes that are most prone to avalanching. This makes for a complex situation that requires serious hair pulling during the tour planning phase. Each slope needs to be given a customized assessment as to if and how to travel through it. The bottom line is, the wind slab is prone to human triggering especially on slopes 35dgr and steeper.