Observation: Alta Periphery 4/14/2011

Observer Name:

Bruce Tremper

Observation Date:

04/14/2011

Region:

Salt Lake
Little Cottonwood Canyon
Alta Periphery

Weather

Weather Comments:

Cloudy with heavy snow in the morning and clearing to mostly sunny in the afternoon. Fairly breezy and ridge top temperatures remained just below freezing but they were much warmer down at lower elevations in the afternoon when the strong sun came out.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth:

12"

New Snow Density:

Medium

Snow Surface Conditions:

Powder

Snow Characteristic Comments:

About a foot of fresh powder from the storm overnight but there was quite a bit of wind transport on the higher terrain. The strong sun, combined with the wet pre-existing snow, made all the snow manky by afternoon. You gotta get it while you can in spring.

Red Flags

Wind Loading

Red Flag Comments:

Wind slabs were quite widespread but shallow and fairly soft. They were breaking out about a foot deep and were easily ski cut on the old snow surface. There were several skier triggered avalanches some intentional and some unintentional. Most were manageable and no one was caught in any of these, as far as I know.

Along the high ridges and peaks, there were much larger pillows and I would suspect you could break out a much deeper, larger avalanche there.

Primary Concern

Primary Concern:

Wet Avalanches

Probability:

Considerable

Aspect:

East

Southeast

South

Southwest

West

Elevation:

High

Mid

Low

Trend:

More Dangerous

Primary Concern Comments:

The wind slabs should settle out quickly and tomorrow the main concern should be for wet avalanches as they heat up in the sun. Expect fairly widespread damp and wet sluffs on all the steep, sun exposed slopes.

snow_profile_location:

Comments - Photos - Videos (group 1)

Video 1:

Observed Danger Rating:

Moderate

Forecast Danger Rating:

Moderate