Avalanche

Northern San Juan

Ben Pritchett, Jeff Davis, Alex HaddadNorthern San Juan
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Weather

Hot with a light west breeze.

Snowpack

Many southeast through south to west-facing slopes melted out below treeline. North-facing slopes drained water to the ground to at least 10,000 feet. Near treeline holds the most snow. Strong winds scoured wind-exposed slopes above treeline back to rock.

Avalanche

Saw one recent slab avalanche on a southeast-facing slope near Read Mountain near 12,000 feet. Winds scoured a large fetch and efficiently drifted a steep slope above a gully. We saw many recent Loose Wet avalanches. Most were small. A few gouged through facets in continuously steep north-facing forests producing large debris piles in the valley bottom along Henson Creek.