Northern San Juan
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Apr 11, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Blustery day with winds below treeline almost as strong as upper elevations. About 5 inches of new snow. Rough estimate as the wind worked most surfaces scouring westerly slopes and forming drifts up to a 18 inches deep in leeward areas. Cold temperatures.
Snowpack
Lots of cracking on any wind-drifted feature. Drifted slabs extended below treeline. West, northwest, and some due north slopes were scoured down to old crusts. We descended a steep easterly slopes and signs of instability were only where the wind drifted the new snow. A lot of snow was moving today. We only made it to 12k feet so we really didn't get any good obs from above treeline. Wind loading was effective near treeline but may have been to strong in the alpine...hard telling.