Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chase Wesley · Dec 9, 2018 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Clear, temps 35 deg F., no precip, no wind in the basin but wind was evident by seeing snow transfer on ridge lines. Wind direction looked to be from the north.

Snowpack

Early season snowpack was evident. Below 10,000 snowpack was approx 20-30cm on all aspects. North aspects snow was cold and soft with fist hardness all the the way. south aspects was crusty. At 10,600 snow on northern aspects grew to 50cm in depth with top 10cm being fist hard, 11-40 being 4 finger, and at 10cm from ground it was pencil hardness but was breakable with enough force. Stepping off the skin track there was instant shooting cracks that measured 20-40cm in length indicating snowpack has some energy. We did have a collapse on a small test slope but no propagation. Snow on top was beginning to facet and will be a buried weak layer after the next storm cycle.

Avalanche

None