Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey Jeff Davis · Jan 15, 2021 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

A bit blustery at times with light blowing snow on open, wind-exposed benches. Temperatures climbed into the low 30s around 11,000 feet.

Snowpack

Light snow observed blowing off the high peaks in the am, but snow available for transport ran out around noon. The wind over the past few days has done a number to the snowpack, stripping windward slopes and creating pockets of stiff slabs on leeward slopes. Cracking and collapsing was observed in these pockets of newly drifted snow, but no avalanche were triggered. The surface was so stiff it was difficult to set an edge on some slopes. Below treeline the snowpack continues to facet and slopes under 70 cms in depth are fully faceted, specifically below 11,000 feet. Extended column tests are reluctant to propagate but Compression tests continue to fail on the Dec 11th layer.

Avalanche

We observed numerous small avalanches that ran sometime during the last two weeks. The number of slides was quite impressive and they all slid on or below the 12/11 facet interface. Similar slope characteristics in all of them - east aspect and on steeper, open headwalls (mostly at or near 35 degrees).