Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Mar 7, 2023 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Mild, sunny day with southerly wind. Occasional stronger gusts contributed to light but non-consequential drifting today.
Snowpack
Surface conditions and the riding quality has diminished significantly in just a few days. The sun and/ or wind has touched almost all slopes at all elevations. The alpine surface is mostly a smooth, bullet proof wind layer mixed with breakable tail grabbers, Sastrugi, and soft textured snow. The soft areas are out-numbered in general. These conditions extend down into the near treeline zone and below the treeline, although harder areas are less widespread than higher up. We found 4 to 5 inches of surface faceting on northerly-facing slopes, and low-angle east-facing slopes sheltered from the wind. Unlike mid-winter surface facets that were generally F hard, the current surface facets were 4F and less reluctant to sluff from ski pressure. Steeper, east-facing slopes offered a breakable crust with softer, dry snow directly below. The crust was thicker and more robust on southerly-facing slopes. We did not find evidence of water percolation much below the surface (we were mostly at elevations at or above 10,600 feet). The recent warming trend has lent more to slab settling and snowpack strengthening versus driving wet, cohesionless activity. The primary weak layer of concern is still the Valentine's Day interface found around 60+ cm below the surface on northerly slopes near treeline. This layer is discernable when probing across slopes and consist of rounding facets that still produce resistant planar failures.