Northern San Juan
AvalancheKrista Beyer · Feb 16, 2025 · Northern San Juan
Weather
A cold morning warmed to near-freezing temperatures by early afternoon. Strong westerly winds picked up in the afternoon and snow was seen drifting at ridgeline.
Snowpack
Nearby Red Mountain Pass picked around 29 inches at 2.1 inches of water during the Valentine's weekend storm (the storms this year sure like the holiday weekends). This snow has settled some making travel gradually more supportable from previous days. Recent snow sits on weak surfaces at lower elevations. Most avalanche activity observed is running on the pre-storm surfaces and/or gouging into old weak layers.
Avalanche
I remotely triggered an avalanche from around 250 ft away while skiing down a ridgeline. The avalanche appears to have failed on pre-storm weak surfaces and gouged into old snow. The avalanche was on a northeast aspect near ridgeline. A member of the party also triggered a small avalanche on a southeast-facing gully wall. An avalanche failed naturally on the north-facing steep gully walls sometime at the tail end of the storm.