SAVE THE DATES!
Saturday, December 6th - Our 18th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW). This session will be held in-person at the Wasatch Jr High School Auditorium. 3750 S 3100 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84109. Information and tickets are available here.
Avalanche Awareness Week!
The 7th Annual Avalanche Awareness is the first week of December! This week is jam-packed with events to get you ready for the season and a chance to connect with other backcountry users. We hope to see you out there!
Cold-Clear-Dry-Wildflower
High Diamonds Lurk for Later
Seeds taller than Snow
Thanksgiving haiku by Alta Avalanche Office forecaster Dave Kelly
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Today will be partly cloudy with mountain temps in the low 30s up high, the mid-40s down low. Winds will be light from the west, blowing 15-20mph, but increasing in advance of a weak storm system slated for tomorrow. We might squeeze a trace to 2" by late Friday, with the emphasis on "might". Temps drop into the teens and low 20s up high behind the cold front. Another system with some promise arrives Sunday that might offer 3-6" of snow. A third storm is slated for early to mid-week but there are hints that it splits and cuts off entirely from the main flow and backs to the southwest. This is a difficult pattern for us and we'll keep watching and waiting.
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Although we are not issuing danger ratings or denoting avalanche problems yet, the staff generally agrees that problematic weak faceted snow exists on upper elevation northwest, north, northeast, and some east facing slopes and some northwest to northeast (mostly north) facing aspects along the upper bands of the "mid-elevations". Please let us know if we are missing something. Really.
For weeks, I had been optimistic that (owing to the very dry early season) we wouldn't have much old weak snow to deal with, but now my glass is half-empty. We're seeing 4-10" of well-connected weak snow along ridgelines outside the Central Cottonwoods, and up to 2' along upper elevation ridgelines in the Cottonwoods.
This is the time of year when it becomes especially important to note what coverage exists. It's worth noting where the dirt is because it might be the safest place to ride once storms really start rolling for us. Slopes with old snow will be guilty until proven innocent. Examples below of upper LCC.
We’ve started receiving our first avalanche observations of the season.
Evidence of natural loose dry "facet" sluffs in upper elevation northerly terrain this week demonstrates that the snow has become so weak that it spills loosely, like sugar. I view this as the proverbial Writing on the Wall for when the storms arrive. If they arrive. (Facet sluffs below, courtesy Alta Avalanche Office). This weak faceted snow is a poor foundation for building a snowpack.
More notable activity occurred on the 22nd in Red Pine Canyon, Little Cottonwood, where a backcountry splitboarder unintentionally triggered a foot deep and 150' wide soft slab avalanche on a steep, rocky northeast facing slope at 10,300' that failed on weak faceted snow. "Just enough" wind transport just lee of the ridgeline produced the wind slab and it appeared the rider escaped without incident. UAC forecaster Brooke Maushund went up to investigate and her report is HERE>
Bouncing facets shows the strength and consistency of the snow structure. It's not much. View on YouTube
Find all recent observations HERE.
