Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Feb 2, 2022 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Obscured skies and periods of moderate snowfall through midday. Skies began to clear by later in the afternoon. Steady SW wind along ridgetops efficiently drifting the low-density snow onto leeward slopes.
Snowpack
We found on average 9 to 12 inches of new snow across aspects and elevation bands from 10,800 to 12,100 feet - drifting up to 16 inches deep. There was a noticeable weak storm interface consistently producing cracks below our skis along the skin track. This layer was around 10 to 15 cm's below the surface. We found reactive soft slabs on easterly-facing slopes below treeline that approach 35 degrees, and gouged into faceted snow above a crust. Those slides acted more like loose dry slides than cohesive storm slabs when moving down the slope - slower moving loose dry slides on steeper, northerly-facing slopes below treeline. We spotted several natural loose dry sluffs in steeper terrain near treeline, and storm slabs in that elevation band remained soft (F to 4F). The most obvious signs of instability we observed was above treeline where the wind helped thicken the new snow into a more cohesive slab. We triggered long-running cracks on north and northeast-facing slopes where the overlying slab formed above weak facets on top of a harder wind layer. Cracks did not produce an avalanche, but were initiated from slope angles around 32 degrees. We avoided steep, heavily drifted areas. Rider-triggering could become more likely across multiple elevation bands in the coming days as fresh storm slabs settle and stiffen above a variety of faceted old snow surfaces and crust.