Northern San Juan

Mostly sunny skies gave way to some clouds by midday. Temperatures warmed slowly, but a light breeze in the alpine kept snow surfaces cool up to 11am.

The snowpack can basically be summed up in two layers: weak snow from dry spells most of the winter, and then a thick, stiff slab from snow in February (and a little bit of fresh snow on top). In many places, the slab is thick and stiff enough to support the weight of a traveling human (hence the lack of recent human-triggered avalanches). In some places, the slab is thinner and it remains possible for a human to impact the weak layer. A party in this area the day prior triggered a "whumpf" that was alarming enough to make them turn around. So, while we may be trending in the right direction and reactivity seems to have rapidly declined, the lingering structure and the unusually shallow depth of our snowpack should keep our hackles up for a bit longer. Notably, I found dry snowpacks on east, northeast, and north-facing terrain down to around 11,000 feet in elevation. We've got a long way to go before these slopes begin to feel the affects of the strong spring sunshine.