Northern San Juan
SnowpackSusan Hale · Jan 8, 2013 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Generally a mild (for Jan) sunny day. Winds below treeline were light. In Sen Beck Basin winds were Northerly/10-15 and icy cold. In spite of warmups at pass level, temps near and above treeline remain quite chilly and our snow surfaces remain BRRRR cold. A reminder that temperature gradients remain quite strong.
Snowpack
Not so nice out there. Our thin, weak snowpack now has various wind slab just about everywhere in the alpine. There's some depth found only on leeward, cross-loaded slopes and gully features, and these too show some evidence of wind affect. Touring up E to SE aspects below treeline, found variable snow depths between less than 1', and up to 3' on protected easterly aspects. 1.5' to 2' was average. Found thin MF crusts on steeper southerly aspects. East to NE aspects predominantly unconsolidated facets (slabs have disappeared). Above treeline, wind damage was everywhere. Wind slabs were highly variable, from very hard, polished and supportive to thin, 1/4" to 3" breakable over large facets. Making our way down - above treeline (E to NE terrain) the wind affect was equally widespread and variable. Some nice shallow powder was rare. Obstacles were common. There were only short stretches of riffle on one protected E aspect before banging into a "slab pocket". Above us in Alpine NE to N aspects, wind damage was dramatic. Only the most protected areas hold much snow. Below treeline in open glades on ENE-NE aspects, snowpack was facets top to bottom (except for the skied out areas in Commodore trees). In areas steep enough, the facets would wash out from beneath skis to the ground.