Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnonymous · May 1, 2016 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Mostly cloudy to S1 snow, verging on rain at lower elevations
Snowpack
Above treeline, colder aspects snow remained lower density, but quickly became thicker with sun and daytime warming and at lower elevations was isothermal below ~11200'. Storm snow is reactive on dust and old surfaces, on higher and lower lower elevations alike, esp. on slopes over 35deg.
Avalanche
Skier triggered small slide on N aspect on Red 3 (at ~12,480'), then witnessed another, same aspect, same approximate slope angle (~38deg). Saw natural slides on east aspect of Red 2, south aspect of Red 1 and NE aspect of Red 2. All storm snow running either on old surfaces or to the ground where snowpack was thin or nearly gone prior to storm. All slides were R2 or less. Roller balls on all aspects (most appeared to be from 4/30). Wide spread minor collapsing, even on sunny aspects on low angle terrain. Snowpack still has lots of lingering instabilities at depth, but seems to be transitioning slowly.