Northern San Juan
AvalancheJason Bushey · Mar 29, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Very warm alpine day with almost no winds. All the sun protection needed and maybe some spare socks helpful.
Snowpack
On my end in Arrastra gulch, wet D1-1.5 avalanches were present on West alpine aspects from steep rock outcroppings Saturday afternoon and seen Sunday morning as frozen debris. Small D1 point releases were noticed in extreme alpine rock outcroppings on northerly and easterly that saw very direct sunlight in the day Sunday. Cornice formation is big on NE alpine ridgelines. On our approach we did find wildly variable depths on north at treeline from 80cm up to 300cm. Shallower depths were typically observed near rock outcroppings, small isolated trees and more open planer slopes that wind had previously had effect on . In these places strong over weak was observed and concerning. Concave or gullied features were consistently around 2m+ and stronger.
Avalanche
On the drive back from CR2 I noticed an avalanche on an E aspect at treeline just off the east of Pumphouse summit. ~D2, likely wet. Estimating it ran 600' vertical and finished 500' wide. There were a couple groups skiing up there that have better first hand info, but figured I'd report. I noticed it at 4:15pm. Didn't have a camera so no luck there.