Northern San Juan

Snowpack

It was all about the wind today. West through north exposed areas got stripped and the snow was blown onto the northeast though south. It's hard to say exactly how much snow the Ophir area received from the last storm because of the wind re-distribution but my best guess is about five to six inches. In the alpine this has all been blown into a stiff slab. In the areas I travelled this slab was stubborn. Not quite enough new snow for natural avalanches and I wasn't comfortable being the trigger so I never really got to test a loaded slope. Many leeward slopes looked primed however. They have the classic smooth, rounded look of a fresh wind slab and where they sit on slopes approaching 38 degrees they looked like they were just waiting for a trigger. At the end of the day I did hear about one small SS that failed on an east aspect just above treeline into Swamp Canyon. Southeast aspects in this area have gained strength over the last few weeks but I am now seeing a new fragile sun crust on east aspects with small facets below. This is now buried by 14 centimeters of snow. I felt like if the slab was just a bit deeper we would have seen some naturals. Some of these wind slabs may settle out tomorrow but I still think many have the potential to fail with the weight of a rider. Below treeline and out of the wind the hazard is much lower. On the sunny aspects the late winter sun and warmth are helping to strengthen the pack. Below about 11,000 feet on northwest through east much of the pack is shallow and weak but there is still no slab on top to create an avalanche problem.