UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Monday, December 4, 2017

At and above treeline a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists. Both human triggered and natural avalanches are likely on steep wind drifted slopes, particularly those facing the north half of the compass. Remember- any slide that breaks to old snow near the ground is going to instantly ruin your day as you get slammed into rocks and stumps, barely hidden under the thin facade of our shallow snowpack.

Steep, wind drifted mid elevation terrain offers MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are possible.

LOW avalanche danger is found on south facing slopes and terrain that had no snow prior to Sunday's storm.

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Special Announcements


Wasatch County SAR members demonstrate avalanche airbag deployment at Saturday nights annual avalanche training in partnership with the Avalanche Center. Thanks to Wasatch SAR for hosting and to everyone who came out to learn how to stay on top of the greatest snow on earth.

Weather and Snow

Last nights cold front delivered a nice shot of snow. Not a block buster, but it looks like the North Slope did well with close to 10" of rather light density fluff stacking up. The south half of the range didn't get left out of the powder party with nearly 8" of fresh snow. Colder temperatures in the single digits have settled into the range. and winds are a bit erratic, blowing out of the east and southeast 20-40 mph. Total snow depths are still in the infant stage and there's only 18"-24", limiting travel to road rides and grassy meadows.


Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake, along with temperatures and winds from Windy Peak

We lost a lot of snow since Thanksgiving. With only two feet of snow on the North half of the range and about 1/2 that amount south of Bald Mountain Pass, road rides and low angle grassy slopes are the only game in town.

Recent Avalanches

No recent avalanche activity to report.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
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Avalanche conditions have changed dramatically in the past 24 hours with the arrival of fresh snow and strong winds. What I know is we have a very fragile snowpack and I bet the range experienced a natural avalanche cycle on steep, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes. I also know that we're drawn to this exact type of terrain because those slopes have the best coverage and we won't be slamming into rocks. What I don't know is how widepsread the avalanche activity is, but I bet terrain that didn't avalanche is waiting for a trigger like us to come along and knock the legs out from under the slab.

It's gonna be a bit sketchy out there today, so the key to avalanche avoidance is to simply steer clear of steep, upper elevation, shady slopes facing the north half of the compass because the snow structure is a house of cards. Instead of rolling the dice, head to slopes that had no snow prior to the storm.

Ted was in Whitney Basin on Thursday and found cohesive snow resting on weak factes... clearly illustrated in the image above. Click here for Ted's great video recap.

The snow stability picture is gonna be a bit complicated the next couple of days, especially on upper elevation terrain and particularly know that all slopes are white.

Here's your exit starategy.... the key to safe travel is choosing terrain that had no old snow prior to Sunday's storm.

Additional Information

The cold airmass over the region this morning is still unstable enough to generate some snow showers, butt it'll be North Slope oriented. Snowfall gradually tapers off late this morning. Winds shift to the northwest and blow in the 40's along the high ridges and temperatures hover in the teens, dipping to single digits overnight. Clearing tonight with high pressure building for the remainder of the week.

General Announcements

I'll up date this advisory by 7:00 AM Tuesday December 5, 2017.

If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170

It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.