Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Dec 17, 2020 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Overcast and warm. Light southerly winds at pass level. Felt a little damp and maritime-like today.
Snowpack
The snowpack overall is still thin, but is starting to get complex, with lots of variability between paths, aspects, and elevation. Southerly-facing paths like Henry Brown, the East Lime area, and the Engineers were mostly bare ground a week ago, and are moving back in that direction. These areas may be largely melted out again by the middle of next week. Where older snow exists on these aspects, it is K-hard melt forms and crusts at the ground, up to a foot thick, with our recent snow (F-hard mixed facets and rounds) on top. Paths facing east and northeast have a much more concerning structure. HS in West Lime averages around 40-60 cm. Winds got in here earlier this week, and the upper layer is a P-hard wind slab. Only 5cm thick where I dug, but clearly thicker in the middle of the path and on the left above MP 60. Below this is our recent snow, 4F- mixed forms, and a thick layer of well-developed F-hard depth hoar, all perched on an icy crust at the ground. The snowpack was too soft for tapping tests to be reliable, but a PST told the tale- PSTend 8/100 at the depth hoar/recent snow interface. A hand pit in the track of the Jenny Parkers showed a very similar structure but HS was only around 30-40 cm.
Avalanche
No new activity observed today.