Northern San Juan
AvalancheBill Nalli · Nov 23, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Clear and calm after the storm.
Snowpack
The last storm added about 17 inches of new snow and 1.6 inches of H2O near Red Mt. Pass. It was mostly right side up, dense at first and lower density at the end. This sits on top of bare ground on all Southeast, South, Southwest and West aspects all the way to ridgeline elevations. These aspects have a LOW (Level 1) danger and snow depths in most places make for good riding conditions. The other side of the compass is a different story with this new snow sitting on top of old faceted snow near the ground from October. Northwest, North, Northeast, and East aspects have a MODERATE (Level 2) danger. Wind drifted slabs on these aspects are easy for a person to trigger, sometimes even while approaching the slope. All areas with old October snow near the ground are suspect. These areas are most pronounced near and above treeline north of Silverton and the further south you travel from there, the less old October coverage you will find. Watch for cracking and collapsing as these are clear signs of poor structure. If you do trigger a slide, expect them to be relatively small, D1 and 2, and confined to the specific terrain feature that you're in.
Avalanche
Skier triggered SS on a NW aspect near treeline at 11,800'. It seems to have released about 20 feet below where the skier placed a ski cut at the top of the slope.