Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Dobronyi · Feb 10, 2014 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Variable. Sky cover ranged from broken to obscured. Snow squalls throughout day, some with intense precip rates. Temperatures below freezing all day. Winds light from the northwest. 9800-11,000 feet, west facing aspect.

Snowpack

Observed at ~11,000' in the trees to the skiers right of the tuning fork slide paths. Below treeline, SW aspect, 20 degree slope. Widespread whumphing, collapsing, few shooting cracks (perhaps due to softness of slab). HS ~110 cm. Roughly 65-70 cm of large grained depth hoar above the ground, fist hardness. Overlying this layer is roughly 35-40cm soft cohesive slab, grain type and size n/o. Hardness 4F at the surface, stiffening to 1F at the interface with the facets. CTV (SP) x2 down 35cm, easy shovel shears on the slab/facet interface. Rumbling collapses and scary hollow sounds observed. Low angle skiing was phenomenal.

Avalanche

none observed