Northern San Juan
AvalancheKrista Beyer · Feb 9, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partially cloudy with light wind. Mild flagging on peaks, but not much active snow transport observed. Temperatures stayed cool throughout the morning.
Snowpack
I dug on a northeast slope near treeline. Height of snow was around 190cm, a welcome change from mid January snow totals. The most recent storm makes up the top 40 cm of the snowpack. Tests in the upper snowpack concluded in moderate failures within the new storm snow and hard failures at the pre storm interface with no propagating results (CT12 @165cm, CT21 and ECTN23 @150cm). Ski penetration of 30cm and boot penetration of 60cm . The top meter of the snowpack is rightside up fist down to four finger. About a meter down, the midpack is gaining strength with a 35-40cm slab one finger to pencil strong. The bottom 60-65cm of the snowpack consists of four finger hard basal facets.
Avalanche
Minor surface sluffing in extreme/steep terrain in the lowest density snow at the tail end of the storm. One small avalanche observed near treeline that looks like a soft cornice or wind drifted pocket broke during loading.