Tonight - Thursday 3/9 6:00 PM - This week the Utah Adventure Journal Speaker Series hosts Joe Grant. Last summer Joe did a self-powered link up of all of Colorado's 14,000ft peaks by bike and on foot. Starting at his home Joe rode more than 1,100 miles, ran/hiked more than 400 miles and summited 57 peaks all in 1 month. Joe will share the story of his adventure, the highs and lows, the gear, the logistics, and style he used to overcome the challenges of Colorado's high country. You can find more information about the presentation here.

Spring Special: We have a few donated Snowbird, Snowbasin, Solitude, and Brighton discount lift tickets left and have just lowered the price. Ski a day and benefit the Utah Avalanche Center! Order here.

The Wasatch Powderkeg will be held Friday and Saturday, Mar 10 and 11, at Brighton as a benefit for the Utah Avalanche Center, featuring a Ski Mountaineering Sprint race on Friday afternoon and a longer race Saturday with Race, recreation, and youth courses and divisions. There will also be Companion Rescue, Terrain Strategies, Splitboarding, Steep Skiing and Riding, and Mountaineering Techniques for Skiers and Snowboarders skills clinics Saturday taught by local pros. There will be a drawing for great gear including boots and winner's choice of skis or a splitboard mid-day Saturday. Details here.

Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the Ogden area mountains are warm this morning - around 40 at the trail heads and some mid elevation sights, with a mix of 30s and a few upper 20s at the higher elevations. The southwesterly winds are generally light, with gusts to 20 mph at the mid elevations, with the usual faster speeds across the high ridges and peaks - speeds averaging 30 to 35 mph.

The snow surface is “variable”, with the last of the cold, dry snow to be found on upper elevation north and northeasterly facing slopes, dotted with punchy wind slabs. The widespread breakable sun crusts at the lower elevations and on sunny slopes will soften later today, into thick sloppy snow.

Yesterday, no reports from the Ogden area backcountry. Resorts reported significant wet loose sluffing on less skier compacted slopes as the snow heated up. In addition, control work released cornices, which then triggered small soft slabs and some soft slabs were released with ski cuts.

With warm temperatures and no major storms in the 10-day forecast, we could be headed toward a possible corn cycle once overnight temperatures cool. Today, clouds should decrease in the Ogden area mountains, and under mostly clear skies, it will be a scorcher, with temperatures warming to near freezing along the high ridge lines, and around 50 at the low and mid elevations. The southwesterly winds are forecast to decrease, and mid elevations should average less than 15 mph at most stations, with the highest peaks averaging 20 to 25 mph by days end. Tomorrow, warm and sunny in the morning, with increasing clouds in the afternoon.

Two small systems, one late Friday and another Sunday, will bring brief, minor cooling. Then a major warm up next week, with ridge line temperatures soaring to near 40 degrees by Tuesday. No major storms in the 10 day forecast.