Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnonymous · Mar 2, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
HN24 - 3-5" , overnight mod-strong southwesterly winds, gust of 49 at gold hill wx station, consistent in the teens in the morning. Scattered ridge elevation clouds.
Snowpack
Generally strengthening snowpack in the alpine, with persistent slab weakness in the upper pack N-SE aspects and resent storm slab, wind slab 6-12" in depth in the alpine esp. on lee aspects NW-N-NE-E. Dry loose sloughs in steeper terrain and cliff bands with ski pressure, and daytime warming temps.
Avalanche
Avalanche occurred upon assessment at the top of slope. One skier remained on bench (low angle terrain) as the second skier traversed on slope to assess the snow, and see if it was appropriate to ski the slope about 50' from the safety of the bench. The second skier noted the deposition of storm snow/ loading 6-12"new. Skier 2 did a stationary hop on the slope to see how the snow reacted, causing a soft slab release 20' above skier 2, 6"deep, taking the skier off their feet caught and beginning to be carried down slope. Skier 2 was able to get back on their skis trending skiers right to the safety of the bench, but the slide continued to propagate another 250' to skiers right with crown depth reaching 18-20" capturing skier 2 and carrying 500'. Skier 2 remained atop the debris losing 1 ski and was uninjured. ASu-R1-D1.5-SS (2x250x500) E-NE 12100'