Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbery, Colin Mitchell · Dec 20, 2018 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Clear, breezy, and warm. Strong winds overrode the warm temperatures in the alpine, making it feel much colder than it was, but quite a pleasant day near and below treeline.
Snowpack
Traveled on south, east, and north-facing aspects below, near, and above treeline. Overall snowpack structure has weakened significantly over the past week and slab above buried facets has also lost cohesion. Slab is primarily F to 4F. Once you travel above 10,500 ft, snow depths increase and travel around obstacles is less challenging. Snowpack is becoming less supportive to the weight of a skier and boot penetration varies between full depth to half of total snow depth. Observed some localized collapses and minor cracking primarily along ridges and in flat meadows. Wind-drifted pillows are found on northeast through east to south-facing slopes near and above treeline in isolated terrain features. These wind-pillows were stubborn and will most likely trend to unreactive in the next day or so. Observed minor cracking in newly formed wind-pillows on slopes steeper than 30 degrees, but they did not move downhill. ECTs performed near and below treeline on persistent weak layers produced non-propagating results. Newly-formed wind-drifts produced ECTP 3 and 6 results, failed on near-surface facets buried below, but friction between the slab and weak layer interface prevented slab from sliding into the pit. Slope angle at site of test was 18 degrees.