Northern San Juan

Temperatures were cold to start but climbed as the sun rose. Sunny, with a few light winds.

Near and above treeline on east-facing slopes, we found ourselves in wind drifted areas comprised of mostly firm snow mixed with the occasional soft pocket. Once we transitioned to north-east facing slopes, we found soft snow sitting on top of isolated firm wind drifts, as well as a stout supportable crust that likely developed on Christmas when a sub-tropical air mass brought unseasonably warm temperatures, rain, and wet snow to our mountains. Weak facets linger below this crust. Strong wind texture was observed on surrounding slopes. In an above treeline test pit at 12,450' on a north-east facing slope, we found firm wind-packed snow over a mid-pack crust, followed by soft, faceted snow to the ground. This pit was dug in an isolated area of wind-drifted snow. We received moderate results in snowpit tests (ECTP12, CT13). We found that propagation and fractures occurred at the old snow/crust interface.