Northern San Juan

Warm, but snow surfaces stayed generally cool in the areas I travelled. Temps stayed below freezing at 11,000 feet. Light to moderate west winds.

Below treeline: on north-facing slopes, the snowpack was 70-80 cm deep. A weak and faceted snowpack allows for loose cohesionless uphill travel, but is supportable to downhill skiing ventures. Near Treeline: Slab-over-weak layering is isolated to wind-drifted areas. These areas do not extend far below ridgelines and appear to be small isolated pockets in the areas I travelled. Pit tests suggest the overlying slab is losing connectivity. Larger grain facets/depth hoar observed at the bottom of the snowpack. Above treeline: there is a wider distribution of wind-drifted areas and hard slab. Beneath these firmer surfaces is weak, faceted snow and crusts. While no signs of instability were observed, this layering does not induce confidence for future loading.