Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Dobronyi · Jan 7, 2021 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Skies CLR to FEW around 2pm and back to CLR by 4pm. Temps warm in the sun, well above freezing. Winds were light with no blowing snow but ridgetops showed flagging in the afternoon.

Snowpack

Moist surfaces on SE, S, SW facing aspects, all but the lowest slope angles were affected. Below treeline N'ly, slab seemed to be losing cohesion but still there. We observed one large collapse when skiing a 20 degree east facing slope near treeline, and another when skiing a north facing slope below treeline.

Avalanche

HS-ASr-R1D2-O Commodore Basin 11,800' NE Aspect ~38 degrees. See photo, I watched it happen. SS-AS-R2D2-O Commodore Basin on E face of pt. 11,490' on USGS map. Heard about this from another group who watched a 3rd group trigger it. 2x SS-U-R1D1-O West Facing below treeline on tailings piles in the mining district. Looked fresh from today.