Northern San Juan
AvalancheDustin Eldridge · Dec 26, 2016 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold with light to moderate winds out of the West and Southwest. Increasing temps and decreasing winds throughout day.
Snowpack
Pit dug on a NNW aspect near treeline 30 degree slope had an HS of 135cm . Snowpack was rather stout, with fist hardness snow on top for 10 cm quickly transitioning to a a 1f to 4f slab throughout the rest of the pack. 4f spots likely remnants of NSF from cold temps between storms. Bottom 10 cm was dry facets around 1.5 mm and less. ECTN 21 PC on the most recent Old/new snow interface approx 20-30 cm down. Only observed one small crack on a windloaded East facing convexity NTL that broke around 15-20 cm down.
Avalanche
Observed an old crown on a N-facing aspect above treeline in Senator Beck Basin. Looked like a windslab broke below a cliffband and then stepped down to pull out a persistent slab. R1-D2-HS-N-O. Crown was approx. 3 feet deep and 50-60 feet across and ran around 200-300 feet. Coming back into Silverton, noticed a slide that we did not notice this morning. It was a Below Treeline WNW slope on Kendall Mountain. R1-D2-HS-N-O. Crown was approximately 2-3 feet deep, 40 feet wide, and ran around 100 vertical feet.