Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Near and above treeline the snowpack is thin(75-100 cm) and exceptionally weak. The slab that developed during the holiday storm is losing strength and is unsupportable on most aspects.It is stiff enough though to support slope-scale crack propagation and whumpfing. Extended Column Tests produced propagating results on the basal depth hoar with column isolation. There are pockets of cross-loaded wind slabs that are deep and supportable but these remain small with thin peripheries that are numerous and easily affected by riders.