Northern San Juan

Putney was down this morning, so here is some data from the Eagle weather station at 12,852 ft. Winds out of the southwest averaging 23 mph with a peak gust of 60 mph. These winds made for blowing snow conditions, but it's likely there was more sublimation than building larger drifts. Also, watch out for your plants and your water pipes. Single digits are in our future. Temperatures started decreasing yesterday with building clouds, and a cold front that arrived this morning continues to drop temperatures even as the sun pops.

The above-mentioned weather has firmed surfaces in the alpine and at lower elevations. Strong winds have created stiffened caps above previously soft snow, but wind ripple and sheltered areas still allow for soft turns on high north slopes. Drifted features were lens-like and located both near ridgeline and mid-slope in couloir features. Slopes that warmed due to the sun and warmer temperatures the past two days have refrozen into a supportable firm melt-freeze layer. Will firm and slick, this refrozen surface was not breakable in the majority of places we travelled.