Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeremy Yanko · Dec 10, 2021 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Arctic.Tough visibility for the most part with intermittent bursts of S-1/S1 rates

Snowpack

Hearty new 50cm storm making up more than half the snowpack height @ 11'400 on a E/NE aspect. Right side up storm that did not reveal any discernible layers. The new load proved to be overbearing on the old snow surface prior to Tuesday's 12/7 ~20 cm event. Multiple D1/D1.5 natural avalanches looked to have released in the pre-dawn hours. Touchy conditions, as it was easy to initiate cracking, collapsing and test slope failures on slopes steeper than 35 degrees where ground cover was not previously free of snow cover. A faceted crust layer 45 cm proved to be the current main layer of concern. Additional crust-facet combo's were present at this location.

Avalanche

Several small Loose-Dry naturals on E/NE below treeline were seen along this road. Thinking they were a result of an intense precipitation period at some point during the night of 12/9 as they were not gouged in to their track and somewhat re-filled. Small human triggered and natural Soft-Slabs were observed as well. All activity seen did not step deeper into the snowpack beyond the 12/7 layer.