Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Krista Beyer, Troy Nordquist · Dec 7, 2023 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Weather was warm and sunny with clear skies. Wind was calm during the tour, but flagging was observed in the morning during the drive from Ridgeway, particularly in the vicinity of the Ridgeway area mountains, indicating that snow is still available for transport in the alpine.

Snowpack

Snowpack depth was about 45 cm at 10500 ft. Digging on SE-facing slopes below treeline, we found 10cm of 3mm facets. Compression Tests (CT) produced sudden collapse failures at this layer with 7 taps. Additionally, a more stubborn failure was produced at a density change in the overlying slab at 21 and 19 taps. At lower elevations 6-9mm surface hoar was observed in sheltered open meadows.