Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jason Habib · Feb 1, 2021 · Northern San Juan

View on map

Weather

32, overcast, calm, 11,600ft, E-NE aspect

Snowpack

We were skiing on a sub 28° slope above the avalanche location. Snow on our slope had a stiff wind hardened layer which had anywhere between 0-6 inches of soft snow on top.

Avalanche

Remote triggered a fracture about 20 feet below a ski track on a 20° slope. Crown released on the inflection point of a convexity 25 ft below the rider. Slab was about 2-2.5 ft thick. Crown was at least 250ft wide, possibly more. Easily a D2. 11,600ft. E-NE aspect---Updated Info---After further discussion with my partner, we figured out that I triggered the slide while skinning from 800ft away, it was not natural. We know this because on our skin up we saw no avy debris. We skied down on top of our skin track and we had a view of the debris.