Northern San Juan
AvalancheNolan Averbuch · Jan 17, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Snowpack
Easterly aspects on the skin track from 10,200 to 11,200 alternate between punch-able refrozen crust in the sunny spots to a very faceted, thin (<1m) snowpack in the shade. 11,200 to 11,700 stiff wind slabs still exist on the north side of the ridge below the new 4cm of snow. The southerly side of the ridge has many spots melted down to ground. Our NE ski run from 11,700 to 10,800 had a very faceted upper snowpack that was easy to "sluff" from our ski tracks, but still had a firmer midpack (did not dig). Our entrance to the gully at 10,800' (NE) presented a fully faceted, thin snowpack that was easy to trigger loose, dry avalanches from below our skis, all the way to ground.
Avalanche
In last (24): HS-NS-R1-D2-U E ridge of McMillan Peak, NE aspect, 11,700', possible wind slab, that broke and ran halfway down path (stopped at approx 11,300'). Did not notice this on tour in same location on 20210116. We triggered: L-AS-R1-D1-G Entrance to prospect gully on steeper slope (~40 deg), broke away from underneath skis.