Week in Review: Avalanche Conditions and Snowpack Developments (January 24 - January 30th, 2025) Each week, we look back at the key snowfall, weather, and avalanche events from the previous week. For archived forecasts, visit the Salt Lake Mountains’ past updates. Overall Summary: A week of shifting conditions in the Wasatch brought moderate avalanche danger, with wind-drifted snow and persistent weak layer concerns dominating the forecast. Early in the period, strong winds and light snowfall contributed to isolated instability, with a small skier-triggered slide on …

If you’ve been following the avalanche forecast this season, you’ve noted that Utah, and much of the Intermountain West, is dealing with a persistent weak layer avalanche problem that has been producing large, destructive avalanches. Tragically, some of these have been deadly. You’ve probably also heard a common trend among avalanche forecasters advising backcountry riders to avoid “thin and rocky areas, where you are more likely to trigger an avalanche.” In this blog post, we will discuss what’s going on with persistent weak layer avalanches and why thin spots are so dangerous. …

Week in Review: Avalanche Conditions and Snowpack Developments (January 17th - January 23rd, 2025) Each week, we look back at the key snowfall, weather, and avalanche events from the previous week. For archived forecasts, visit the Salt Lake Mountains’ past updates HERE. Overall Summary: This week brought a mix of storms, strong winds, and frigid temperatures, with avalanche danger holding at MODERATE for mid and upper elevations. A sleeper storm on Saturday delivered 24 inches of low-density snow to the Upper Cottonwoods, leading to wind-drifted soft slabs and dry-loose …

The Utah Avalanche Center hosts the Batteries for Beacon program to encourage individuals to replace batteries in their avalanche transceivers each year. Batteries are distributed to local participating shops where individuals can receive free batteries after providing their contact information. The UAC encourages the use of high-quality batteries in any avalanche safety equipment that requires them. On January 20, 2025, it came to our attention that the AAA Procell Constant batteries distributed in the program this year may be an inadequate length for a standard avalanche transceiver …

Week in Review: Avalanche Conditions and Snowpack Developments (January 10th - January 16th, 2025) Each week, we look back at the key snowfall, weather, and avalanche events from the previous week. For archived forecasts, visit the Salt Lake Mountains’ past updates HERE. Overall Summary: This week featured a variety of avalanche conditions in the Wasatch, beginning with CONSIDERABLE danger at mid and upper elevations due to a weak snowpack structure and large wind slabs. A significant storm on Saturday brought 12–22 inches of snow (0.50–1.26" SWE) to the Upper …

Week in Review: Avalanche Conditions and Snowpack Developments (January 3rd - January 9th, 2025) Each week, we look back at the key snowfall, weather, and avalanche events from the previous week. For archived forecasts, visit the Salt Lake Mountains’ past updates HERE. Overall Summary: Over the week of January 3–9, the Wasatch saw constantly shifting avalanche conditions driven by storms, wind, and a fragile snowpack. Danger dropped briefly to CONSIDERABLE on the 3rd as skies cleared, but a fast-hitting storm on the 4th brought nearly 20 inches of snow and bumped …

Forecaster Greg Gagne sent this to me yesterday - "James Tate is one of my all time favorite poets. Doesn’t this read like how we travel when there’s a PWL?"