Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeremy Yanko · Dec 8, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Fairly calm and comfortable under the sun.
Snowpack
New snow over the last 24 hours at this location was a nice unconsolidated 12-14" below treeline on a westerly aspect. Some wind loaded pockets were found against rocky knob features but would only crack with ski pressure and yield no audible collapsing on the weak faceted crust near the bottom of the snow pack. Natural stress cracks were evident throughout the majority of the slope, perhaps indicating a steeper slope angle and a more cohesive slab would have failed and released. The storm snow appeared to be bonding well with old layer/s, but the main suspect lies down near the bottom 1/3 of the pack where a weak faceted crust is perched over 25cm of 3/4mm moist facets below.
Avalanche
Natural activity observed on predominantly North facing terrain at all elevations. all slides appeared to have failed mid pack on possibly the 11/27 layer. One avalanche in the lower Columbine lake zone appeared to have failed at the ground ATL on North.