Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah State Parks,

Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

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Avalanche advisory

saturdAY february 11, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday february 12, 2006.

Good morning! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Saturday February 11, 2006 and it’s 7:00 a.m. Avalanche advisories for the western Uintas are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

This advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate information out to the public. I’m interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche. Please call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] and fill us in with all the details.

Announcements:

“Beacon Basin” is good to go and ready to use at the Noblett’s Trailhead. While you’re waiting for your partners 
to gear up, swing by and test your avalanche beacon skills. It’s free and easily accessible from the parking lot. A big thanks 
goes out to members of the Utah Snowmobile Association for assisting in the installation and to Backcountry Access for 
providing all the gear. 
 
A special thanks to Tri-City Performance, Polaris and The Utah Snowmobile Association for stepping up to the plate 
and partnering to provide a new sled for the Utah Avalanche Center’s western Uinta avalanche forecasting program. 
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is up and running. This site was made possible through generous donations
by BRORA, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Under clear skies and a big bright moon, temperatures bottomed out overnight and a strong inversion developed. The Moffit Peak weather station at 11,000’ reports 6 degrees and winds are out of the northeast, blowing 15-25 mph. Down at the trailheads you’ll find light winds, but temperatures are still in negative territory, hovering around -6 degrees. The riding and sliding conditions aren’t what they used to be and the snow has taken a pretty hard hit this week. Up high there’s plenty of wind damage and the snow is hard and you barely leave a track in it. On sun exposed slopes the snow is crusty and challenging. Don’t be too discouraged though, you can still find settled creamy powder on sheltered shady slopes, particularly at mid elevations.

Avalanche Conditions:

With a mostly stable snowpack, there’s just not that much going on in the avalanche business right now. Of course that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down and ride everything just because it’s white. We have experienced some strong winds the past few days and there may be a rogue pocket or two of wind slab out there which could be sensitive to the additional weight of a backcountry rider. The most likely place to find any new wind drift is going to be on the leeward side of upper elevation ridgelines. While I wouldn’t expect any of these drifts to be too large, take care that one doesn’t knock you off your skis or machine. In addition, the sun is getting strong and sun-exposed slopes may become damp during the heat of the day. If the snow you’re riding on becomes wet and gloppy you can avoid triggering a wet slide by simply moving to a shadier slope.

Bottom Line:

In wind sheltered terrain the snowpack is mostly stable and the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

For upper elevations above tree line, there are isolated pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger on any slope steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanche are possible.

Mountain Weather:

A dry and stable northerly flow will be over the region today and after a cold start, it should be a beautiful day in the mountains. We’ll see mostly sunny skies with highs at 10,000’ in the mid to upper 20’s and at 8,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows will dip into the upper teens. Winds will be out of the north blowing 15-30 mph along the highest ridges, but should begin to decrease as the day wears on. A warmer air mass moves into the area on Sunday and should linger through about Tuesday. A change in the weather pattern is still on tap for Wednesday and we should be seeing a return to stormy weather for the latter half of the week.

General Information:

If you haven’t taken one of our free snowmobile specific avalanche awareness classes, schedule one now before things get too crazy. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 and I’d be happy to tailor a talk for your group.

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.

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am on Sunday February 12, 2006.

Thanks for calling!