Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Anonymous · Dec 31, 2010 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Current WX in Ophir: snowing S1, calm, 16 F (and dropping). About 3-4" of new since yesterday late afternoon when we got a lull in full day storm. Things change quickly out there! Yesterday we had about 18" of light blower snow and little wind at treeline--perfect skiing.

Snowpack

Today the wind really picked up and despite another 6" of new or so up in the hills, the upper pack was stiff, slabby and reactive, even well below treeline. New snow not bonding well to old snow... skiing a bit of a wallow... The high country must be getting active and while North slopes have been getting most of the loading, wind speeds are strong enough to stiffen slabs and load across the board.