Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick · Mar 1, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Very warm and calm.
Snowpack
Today is the first day of meteorological spring and the heat is on. Last week's storm snow has settled 12" on Red Mountain Pass since snowfall ended last Thursday. The new snow on sunny slopes is baking down quickly. The top ~10cm is wet and percolation tubes have have reached down to the old crust layer below the recent snow. Lower elevation sunny slopes show early signs of runneling, indicating drainage is being established. Northerly slopes remain cold and reactive, with new snow perched on weak facets below. In the alpine: storm winds left hard slabs disguised by a few inches of soft snow on top. These slabs sit on large facets on shady slopes and may be stubborn to trigger, unless you hit a shallow spot in the slab. As evidenced by some of the slides in the recent cycle, the resulting avalanche could be very large.
Avalanche
The avalanche cycle from last week's strom was impressive. We continue to find slides that ran last week that have not yet been documented. To sum it up: the cycle was WIDESPREAD.