Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Jan 30, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Light snow in the AM, but clouds broke around 2:00pm. Temperatures were cold, just breaking the double digits. Northwest winds were strong in the AM, but back off through the day.
Snowpack
5-7 inches of snow fell in the Prospect area overnight and strong northwest winds moved the new snow onto southerly and easterly slopes. The largest plumes of snow were observed near and above treeline in the morning hours but winds back off in the afternoon. Today, I traveled primarily on south and southeast facing slopes less than 35 degrees and near treeline. On these slopes the snowpack is under a meter deep and the new snow fell on thin crust but bonded well. In a snowpit on a South facing slope at 12,100 feet Extended Column Test produced propagating failures at 18 taps breaking on the old December 11th layer. The new snow from the last two storms is settling and stiffing. One large collapse was trigged as 4 people made it to a transition point.
Avalanche
I old avalanche observed today in the Lark Mine area.