Northern San Juan
SnowpackBill Nalli · Apr 4, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Intermittent cloud cover and moderate gusty winds. Mild temperatures. The sun poked out periodically but high clouds limited warming.
Snowpack
No new avalanches were seen today. The shallow new snow on sunny aspects bonded well to the old surface and only rollerballs were seen on steep slopes. The surface had the look of fresh windslabs but none were observed that were deep enough to avalanche. I also didnt venture onto the most exposed locations and I suspect you could find many places to trigger a small slab below ridges. I did encounter an unsuspected hazard below treeline that will be concerning with the coming warmer days. 20 to 30 centimeters of settled new snow sits on top of large poly grains that are still wet from April Fool's Day. They produced numerous large collapses on southeast to east-facing slopes from 10,400' to 11,200'. Higher than this, the layer is more frozen and currently stronger. With warm days ahead I suspect this elevation band to rise and the distribution to spread onto more aspects. These failures were initiated on slopes as low as 30 degrees and propagated up to 300 feet away onto 35 degree slopes. I was very careful with my slope angles and never got onto anything steeper than 35 degrees but suspected that as things approach 38 and steeper avalanches would be possible.