Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Apr 17, 2023 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Splitter bluebird day with light winds at upper elevations.
Snowpack
Slow warm up, surface softening after a solid re-freeze last night. We traveled up east and southeast-facing slopes below treeline in the morning and surfaces were softening around an inch deep. Boot penetration on the same terrain was between 3 and 4 inches, and very supportive below (combination of re-frozen melt forms and crust). No wet snow hazard today near and above treeline with good corn skiing by midday. Easterly-facing slopes still hold between 4 and 5 inches of settled snow from Friday night's storm. The top 2 inches was wet while the rest were moist grains. Recent snowfall has bonded well to the hard, crusted surface below and was stubborn to sluff on steeper test slopes. We noticed cracking in the snow surface on easterly-facing areas below treeline, steep slopes below cliffs and on sidewalls of gullies, from recent warm temperatures.
Avalanche
Only wet snow avalanche activity we observed occurred during the 4/11-13 cycle.