Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Dec 10, 2022 · Southern San Juan
Weather
A very nice day in the mountains. Single-digit temperatures in the morning warmed nicely under sunny skies and a light ridgetop breeze.
Snowpack
The recent storm snow is settling into a mostly 4F to 1F- slab on shady slopes offering easier, more supportive over-the-snow travel than during the storm. The rumbling collapses and shooting cracks are starting to subside below the treeline, but still occur on most terrain features over 32 degrees. Some cracks traveled uphill around 50 feet and en echelon across slopes. Stability tests continue to point to a reactive slab/ weak layer combination with easy-moderate planar and propagating failures in faceted grains below December snowfall. The snow on southerly aspects is showing the effects of warm temperatures and direct sunshine with a thin crust forming on the surface in steeper terrain, and settling quickly on lower-angled slopes. While not the widespread natural avalanche cycle we expected during the last storm, plenty of slopes showed their hand and were pushed to the breaking point producing large avalanches.