Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Josh Jespersen · Jan 14, 2023 · Northern San Juan

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Observation photo 1

Weather

OVC skies with moderate snowfall and moderate winds.

Snowpack

There is a deep snowpack in Swansea Gulch with a strong over weak structure throughout the moraine with varying depth.

Avalanche

An avalanche ran out of the Coyotes Tooth on either 1/12 or 1/13 and took out the legs of a small amount of the east facing terrain of the ridge as it ran accumulating volume. From the constriction in the couloir, the avalanche continued to run for almost a half mile with a vertical loss of almost 1,000 feet. In the photo you can see coloration in the debris from the avalanche running to the ground on the east facing slopes. The photo is taken about halfway in the track with the rest of the debris behind me. HS-N-D2.5-G