Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Gary Falk · Dec 30, 2014 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

SCT-OVC all weekend with cold temps minus a brief warming Sunday afternoon. S1-2 all day Monday. Moderate wind from the North Saturday with moderate transport, turning light to calm Sunday/Monday. Snow accumulation 8-10cm Monday.

Snowpack

We traveled on NE - E - SE slopes. HS 110 - 60 cm respectively. Shady slopes have a 1F layer of sintering facets over F 2mm advanced facets at the ground. Sunnies have two distinct melt freeze layers, the lower being 3cm thick (K, 20 cm from ground) the upper 1 cm thick (P, 40 cm from ground). Basal facets are present on sunnies.

Avalanche

We observed five to six R3-R5 D1-2 avalanches on NE rollovers, probably a few days old, and felt multiple collapses on NE-E. While driving Saturday, we observed two distinct crowns on NE below the ridge on Battleship, on the paths looker's left of center.