Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Feb 18, 2020 · Southern San Juan

Weather

Pleasant day in the mountains that felt more like early-spring than mid-winter. Overall light winds along ridge tops and short burst of moderate gusting. Winds kept temperatures from getting too warm in the afternoon. High, thin clouds began moving overhead around 3 pm.

Snowpack

The snowpack remains status quo at present time in this portion of the South San Juan. Southerly-facing slopes below treeline are the first slopes to show an initial transition to a spring pack. Those slopes are becoming firm after going through several melt-freeze cycles. North to east-facing slopes below 11,000 feet continue to weaken and become less supportable. Near and above treeline, the snowpack remains cold and dry, despite a prolonged period of warm temperatures. Southerly and west-facing slopes have a stout surface crust that thickens as you climb above the timber line. Many northerly-facing alpine slopes are a mixture of sastrugi, wind-board, and isolated areas of softer snow. The weakest overall structure remains on southeast aspects at higher elevations. There, the snowpack is highly variable with weak snow lingering mid-pack and near the ground. Places that are shallow lack a slab/ weak layer combo. Where it's deeper, a very hard slab near the surface is making it difficult for a rider to impact weaker snow below. This does not appear to be a major concern at present, but could become a bigger issue once we get another significant load above. No cracking, collapsing, or other signs of unstable snow observed today on multiple aspects during our tour.

Avalanche

None observed today.