Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Apr 19, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Beautiful spring day. Crisp morning to start with pleasant daytime warming. Winds were light up to 13,100 feet with an occasional stronger breeze. Today's wind did not increase as forecast or contribute to drifting or stiffening of the snow surface. By around 3:30 pm, wind speeds began to increase but isolated to treeline and above.
Snowpack
Snow surfaces were firm this morning on all aspects, even below treeline, after the recent string of cooler weather. We found 4 to 6 inches of recent snowfall around 11,000 feet and higher. Drifts were 8 to 10 inches deep in isolated areas above treeline, and we guesstimate up to 16 inches of snow has fallen in the last week. We observed good bonding between individual storm layers and the new/ old interface with ski pressure. We spotted one shallow dry snow avalanche that failed naturally on a very steep, rocky slope and a few loose wet avalanches that appear to have run the day prior from the sun warming the snow surface. No evidence in the terrain we traveled of fresh wind-slab formation, wind transport, or stiffening of the surface snow. We found hot powder on northeast and east aspects in the alpine by midday, but northwest and north aspects remained cold and dry. Last night's solid freeze helped the snowpack remain supportable into the afternoon on near treeline slopes and only got punchy/ rotten when we descended below treeline. By the afternoon, west-facing slopes below treeline were wet and punchy with 12 to 16 inch deep sun cups.