Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Ann Mellick Susan Hale · Mar 1, 2016 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Mild with high clouds.

Snowpack

Highly variable with slight twists to north or south on the west facing slope we investigated. Snow was overall still cold, though southerly twists were predictably thinner and warmer. Many of these paths continues to hold significant volume in their tracks. There was 80-280cm of snow in the gully we investigated. However, would likely take a very large load OR new snow plus rapid and profound warm-up to trigger deep weak layer. A more likely slide scenario is new snow sliding on old, slick surface.