Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Davis · Nov 30, 2017 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Warm temperatures, light winds, and few clouds. Another unseasonable warm day for November.

Snowpack

Today, I traveled to a slope that has been holding snow since last season. The height of the snowpack ranged from 0-50 cm's. On many exposed slopes a small surface slab has developed. This slab would break around my skies, but did not propagate long distances. Below the surface the snowpack continues to facet. The shallower the snowpack the larger the faceted snow gains and weaker the snowpack. In general, coverage remains thin and traveling on snow is difficult. This is due to the breakable surface and shallow buried obstacles.

Avalanche

No avalanche activity or other obvious signs of instability observed.