Northern San Juan
SnowpackScott Toepfer · Mar 24, 2011 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Moderate to at times heavy snow. We picked up about 5" during a 4 hour tour. Winds were strong along the highway corridor but quickly eased once we got into the dark timber. Approaching treeline the winds got to the forecasted wind speed with gusts into the 60s. At times the wind direction was quite variable. We noted wind directions of east, north and south. Quite complex.
Snowpack
The dust layer was the reactive layer of most note today. There was significant sluffing, failing just below the dust layer on the easterly aspects we were able to visit. The dust layer was building an ice crust from the Wednesday sunshine and temperature increase. Kicking cornice would trigger small sluffs, also ski cuts were quite productive. The new snow was just starting to form slab as we exited off the ridge.