Northern San Juan
SnowpackJeff Davis · Mar 16, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Clouds and wind picked up during the afternoon hours. Light flurries observed by early evening.
Snowpack
Recent warm temperature and ample sunshine has created a surface crust on 3/4 of the compass below treeline. All but northerly facing slopes have a thick crust. Wednesday, the surface crust never broke down and was supportable to me on skis. Digging on an east facing slope around 11,000' I observed multiple crusts in the top 60 cm's of the snowpack with weaker snow below. I was able to initiate a propagating failure on an Extended Column test on the weaker snow below the crust, ECTP 32, but the last 2 hits being hammer kicks with the heal of my boot. Moving just a few degrees to the north the snowpack was much drier and a stout penial hard mid-pack was observed. I was also able to initiate a failure on a long column test on this NE slope ECTP24 on the February facets 80 cms from the surface. Interestingly I dig on this NE slope often and the snowpack tests and snow depth were almost exactly what they were on March 10th, but the mid-pack has gone from 1-finger to penial hard. Since that time we have picked up a foot of snow and had some very warm days.