Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Jan 22, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Beautiful day. Light wind, mild temperature, lots of sunshine.
Snowpack
This morning, forecasters measured one inch of snow at the Red Mountain Pass study plot. Pockets of drifted snow up to three inches deep were observed above treeline on northern facing slopes. The new snow did not bond well to the firm crust on sunny slopes in the morning, but as sunny slopes warmed, the new snow crust combination created a nice traveling surface. Digging on a northeast-facing slope near-treeline, the Persistent Slab avalanche structure exists but shows signs of stubborn to unlikely triggering. A 1 finger slab sits over 4finger and fist hard facets near the ground. The facets are in the top meter of the snowpack, but the thick slab above makes them hard to affect. Boot penetration was only 15 cms. A Propagation saw test on the basal facets failed 40/100, and I was able to initiate a propagating failure on an Extended column test on 32 taps (31 and 32 hard hits). No Cracking or Collapsing.
Avalanche
No new avalanche activity observed.