Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Colin Mitchell · Dec 18, 2021 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Bluebird day. Started out cold, valley temperatures were well below zero F, but warmed quickly through the morning hours.

Snowpack

Last week's winds really wreaked havoc on near and above-treeline terrain. Many slopes were stripped bare, and NW-N-NE slopes were loaded with stout wind slabs. 4-5 inches of soft snow was on top of the slabs in sheltered areas. Overall coverage is thin outside of wind-loaded areas. We ascended on mostly northerly-facing slopes and didn't see any signs of instability outside of a little cracking in the soft surface snow. Snowmachiners were climbing nearby steep, northerly-facing slopes without incident

Avalanche

Two relatively fresh D2 natural avalanches on the northwest face of Red 1. Probably ran on Wednesday.