Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Nov 10, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partly cloudy skies and moderate northwest winds. Temperatures in the upper teens, but felt colder when exposed to the wind.
Snowpack
Three inches of snow fell in the Red Mountain Pass area, with graupel observed on the snow surface. The snowpack, in general, is thin and depth varies across slopes. Most snow continues to be on northerly and easterly facing slopes. In the alpine where the snowpack is the deepest is also where I found the most complicated snowpack structure. Today, I targeted an exposed north-facing slope affected by the wind, and I expect holding snow since mid-October. On this north-facing slope at 12,000 feet, I found a mixture of harder snow over softer snow, i.e., wind-stiffened snow over facets and rounds going to facets. The good news is that these pockets of a layered snowpack are not widespread and are specific to shady slopes affected by the wind. The snowpack on slopes protected from the wind was less stiff and was quickly faceting. Though the snowpack is mostly made of facets, it was still supportable when traveling on skies. I would expect to post-hole if traveling on foot. No cracking, collapsing, or avalanche activity was observed.
Avalanche
No avalanche activity.