Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Colin Mitchell · Apr 22, 2018 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Rapid warm-up this morning. Swamp Angel went from 25-49 degrees in 5 hours. Light winds and intense solar radiation. Cloud deck could be seen approaching from the south, but Red was just high thin clouds with plenty of sun.

Snowpack

Recent snow had settled out to just a few inches deep, and was getting wet and starting to sheet off of the dusty crust underneath. Lots of rollerballs and a couple of small slides to the white line in Blue Point. Highway paths on Red are below threshold for avalanches that could significantly affect the highway.

Avalanche

Lots of D1-1.5 slides on a variety of aspects, all from steep, rocky slopes. Activity was observed from Mill Creek cirque through Commodore basin, then tapered off rapidly towards the north.