Southern San Juan

Snowpack

Becs Hodgetts · Jan 2, 2021 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Beautiful day. Slight breeze below treeline, not much snow moving above treeline.

Snowpack

I traveled through below treeline elevation on east and south facing slopes. HS on south slopes: 20-60cms. Snow was already moist at the surface by 11am. East btl slopes: HS 60-100cms with three distinct facet/crust combos at the surface, 70cm, and 20cm, respectively. No obvious signs of instability noted. Dug on a north facing slope at 11600’ feet on a slope protected from the wind with large sparse trees. HS 115. ECTX. Last weeks storm snow has settled to around 25cm of F hard snow. Below this is (F) 20cm rounding layer of early December snow. The buried NSF layer we have been tracking is slowly firming up to F+/4F, but still noticeable as 15cm thick facet layer to the naked eye. Boot pen was to ground or full leg length, whichever got there first. Ski pen 10cm. Snowpack felt supportive to ski and surprisingly non-trapdoor for how weak it is. No whumphing or signs of cracking or collapsing. Jumped on some steep rolls with no results. We skied the slope.