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AVALANCHE ADVISORY
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Sunday,
November 19, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Current Conditions:
Under mostly clear
skies, the dreaded inversion has temperatures in the high elevations near their
yesterday’s maximums in the low to mid 30’s.
Cool air pooling in the drainages and mountain valleys has mid-elevation
temps in the mid-teens. Winds are out of
the south and are generally less than 15mph.
Turning conditions are still quite good on the shady slopes with surface
hoar and recrystallized snow sitting over a supportable base in the upper
elevations. The sun-exposed slopes are
not bad on supportable quasi-corn once defrosted.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
While my party
collapsed and spider-webbed out just about the only remaining snow in the west
bowl of Silver Fork, and another party collapsed part of the slope on 10,420’
in upper BCC, the headlines are clearly the 1-2’ deep slabs remotely triggered from
the west ridge of 10,420’. A report
indicated two slides released on a northeast
facing slope at about 9600’. It’s
the same slope that killed a backcountry skier in the mid-90’s,
the same that a touring party released a 6’ deep crown two years ago.
This evidence plus all
the stability tests conducted over the past couple days indicate that it may be
a little while before we’re out of the woods.
It’s not pretty, and it’s definitely not last year. My worry is that last year’s mind-set of ‘skiing the big
lines with impunity’ will carry over to this early season with tragic
consequences. We’ve had two very close
calls with this tricky snowpack in the past week alone.
What to do? Remember that these avalanches are mostly confined
to northwest through north through east facing slopes over 9000’ and simple
ski-pole tests will confirm the snow
structure here. Travel one at a time
through suspect terrain. Carry rescue
equipment. Be patient.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger
remains MODERATE on northwest, north, northeast, and
east facing slopes above about 9,000’ and steeper
than about 35 degrees. Any avalanche
triggered will likely release to the ground.
The danger of wet activity on the sun exposed slopes will rise to MODERATE with daytime heating.
Mountain Weather:
Ho-hum high pressure
will bring clear skies, light to moderate southerly winds and mountain temperatures
to near 50 degrees at 8000’. A sad-looking
cold front is expected through around Thanksgiving.
Announcements:
The next FUAC fundraiser will be at Brewvies. “The Anomaly” by TGR
is playing on Dec 7th, with two showings, at 7pm and 9pm. Advance tickets are available.
We appreciate any
snowpack and avalanche observations, so please let us know by calling (801)
524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, email [email protected]
or fax 801-524-6301
The information in
this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for
its content. This advisory describes
general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
I will update this
advisory by 7:30 on Monday and thanks for calling.