Southern San Juan

Avalanche

Chris Bilbrey · Feb 21, 2019 · Southern San Juan

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Weather

Heavy snow and light to moderate south winds at lower elevations. Snowfall varied from S2 up to periods of S5 with short-lived breaks of S1.

Snowpack

Deep! Found 20 inches of new, low-density snow in valley bottom since last night with up to 36 inches at 9300 feet. Easy to trigger (touchy) soft storm slabs (approx. 12 inches thick) on any steep convexity or road cut with lots of sluffing. Found en echelon cracking on most steep, open slopes below treeline. Several natural avalanches occurred earlier in the morning on road cuts over 35 degrees with a few failing while walking up skin track approx. 50 to 75 feet ahead of our location. Conditions and deep snow made us stick to lower-angled slopes and avoided travel on slopes connected to steeper terrain above. Travel to far off the beaten path was very challenging today.

Avalanche

Numerous shallow storm slabs below treeline. Mostly D1's and approx. 12 inches thick.