Southern San Juan
AvalancheMatt Entz · Jan 27, 2019 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Few clouds and light winds.
Snowpack
Snowpack was extremely variable depending on locations, elevations, and aspects. Area around Poage Lake is very hollow and punchy. Just south and east of there, we noticed a lot more cohesion and some thick slabs forming over faceted snow at the ground. Farther east towards the North Mountain basin, the snow again felt very hollow and was easy to punch through with both our machines, and by foot. Measured depths from various locations near and around 11,000 feet elevation ranged from 100-150cm. Persistent weak layer present everywhere. Snow in this area is much shallower and less stable than the snow we rode the previous two days closer to Wolf Creek pass from Tucker Ponds.
Avalanche
We observed numerous natural avalanches that we assume ran at the tail end of our last storm cycle. These were observed at all elevations and on north through east through west aspects. Sizes varied as these were observed from areas just off the trail to large areas above treeline on mountain sides. We also observed very sensitive snow off of the side of the trail with a snowmobile slope test. The test slope was an East aspect at 11,000 feet elevation and 39 degrees. As the snowmobile left the trail and cut into and across the slope, a crack propogated across the entire slope.