Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Susan Hale · Apr 6, 2017 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Clear, generally calm, mild temps

Snowpack

Storm totals of roughly 8-10 settled quickly following storm. Recent storm layers exist in the newest april snowpack but are bonding well. Wet loose activity was confined to newest snow.

Avalanche

Sluff activity was already extensive in almost all paths - only one full day following the weather event. This activity including heavy roller-ball activity to sluffs sheeting off of the interface of old / new and had only slight impacts to the hwy (edge of road debris). Most of the paths in the Gorge went thru their sluff cycle with the exception of Mother Cline (Mitigation here took care of much of the snow but pockets remain in this NW aspect...it will continue to have small sluffs till the path melts out). Blue Point was on its way it's condition prior to the storm (cornice and a dramatic warm-up could pose a threat in the future).