Southern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Feb 3, 2024 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Overcast to broken skies with light, but steady snowfall (S1). Light north wind with sustained moderate gusts.
Snowpack
We observed stubborn, non-propagating tests results at the new/ old interface in snowpits on southeast and northeast-facing slopes below treeline. In our southeast snowpit, the new snow has bonded well to a 4 cm thick melt-freeze crust, but 4F facets sit directly below and above a thin breakable crust. This setup will be something to monitor with next weeks storm or if temperatures rapidly warm. We dug on northeast-facing slopes below and near treeline, and the old faceted snow surface is slightly weaker and thicker near treeline. ECTs in our below treeline northerly aspect pit started to propagate a crack with moderate force, but arrested halfway across the column. Full propagation occurred in our near treeline pit where the weak layer is around 10 cm thick. Walking from our near treeline pit, we triggered a loud, audible collapse around 10 feet away - this is after we observed an ECTP 15. Ski pressure produced small, loose snow sluffing on small test slopes pushing close to 35 degrees, but none broke up as soft slabs. These traveled quickly and a descent distance downhill, despite the small size of terrain limiting potential size and total run length.