Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Dec 1, 2021 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Sunny, mild day with temperatures climbing into the mid-40s around Noon. A light north breeze was enough to take the edge off.

Snowpack

Slopes holding snow in the Wolf Creek Pass area are confined to a slim margin - north and northeast aspects. Northwest-facing terrain in this portion of the South San Juan is much shallower and spotty than areas further west. While we traveled on snow from around 10,400 feet, snow depth and snow cover is not consistent across slopes until you reach about 10,800 feet or higher. Below 11,000 feet, snow depths range from 8 to 12 inches, but numerous natural obstacles still extend above the current snow surface. Above that, snow depths were fairly consistent and range from 16 to 24 inches deep. Large, well-developed facets make up the majority of the snowpack. Temperature crust that formed during periods of warm weather this fall are now faceting and getting weaker. As we approached treeline, we found a stiff windboard layer under last weeks snowfall with F to 4F facets below (classic trap door setup). This layering was mostly on open slopes prone to drifting. We observed two minor collapses on isolated pockets with this snowpack structure. This is a concerning setup for future storms to build upon especially where these slabs are larger and more broad across terrain. The snowpack has gotten so weak in general that we easily initiated small facet sluffs in steeper, wind-sheltered terrain. None were large in size but traveled quickly and gained volume while moving down the slope.

Avalanche

None observed.