Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Dec 19, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
An overcast morning gave way to partly cloudy skies by 10 am. Cold. 4 degrees when we left the trailhead. Nevertheless, it was warm in the sun, with plenty of radiation penetrating the snowpack.
Snowpack
Surprisingly thin but still solid snowpack on SE aspects. Plenty of evidence of wind-loading and redistribution from recent winds. Wind slabs were encountered along ridgelines on S-E aspects. They extended up to a couple of hundred feet below ridgeline in places. Some minor cracking and collapsing occurred when we traveled across these slabs, but no movement. The snowpack structure is still concerning with overall thin coverage and a faceted layer at the ground, but not a big hardness change at this layer, and no propagating results with tests. No cracking or collapsing on this layer, just the surface wind slabs. Despite low temperatures, BTL slopes with southern exposure were getting very sticky and hard to ski by 2 pm.
Avalanche
A recent wind slab observed on the east side of Brown's Mountain.