Blog

In this podcast, we talk with long time and now retired Canyons ski patrol director and head of snow safety Jake Hutchinson. Jake has also been chief instructor for AAI (American Avalanche Institute) and is now general manager at Gym Jones. Jake has been a long term member of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue and along with Dave Weber, run AAI's multi-day professional rescue seminar. In this conversation, Jake details what it requires to be in snow safety at a ski area, particularly as it relates to personal risk while out on the slopes. Jake was the head of snow safety during an in-bounds …

With permission, we are reprinting Molly Absolon's opinion piece from the Jan 23, 2019 edition of the Jackson Hole News and Guide. A link to the article is HERE. Danger, dangerous, stupid: Not all the same Mountainside / By Molly Absolon Jan 23, 2019 Updated Jan 24, 2019 Friday the snow was deep and creamy. It was also sensitive. My husband dug a test pit on a slope we hoped to ski. A soft slab roughly 70 centimeters thick propagated across the wall of snow on the 17th tap of his extended column test. Not a good …

Drew Hardesty Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the previous week. (Click here to review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday Jan 25 through Thursday Jan 31: Summary: ... A ridge of high pressure builds to the west, keeping northern Utah under a breezy but warming northwest flow. The snowpack trends toward stabilization and by Tuesday the overall danger in the central Wasatch is dropped to LOW. Friday January 25 - Gusty northwest winds up high …

Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the previous week. (Click here to review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday Jan 18 through Thursday Jan 24: Summary: A significant storm late the previous week raises the avalanche hazard, and the UAC issues an avalanche warning for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. A second storm early in the week with heavy snow and strong winds. Sadly, the first avalanche fatality of the year occurs on the Manti Skyline over the …

Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the previous week. (Click here to review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday Jan 11 through Thursday Jan 17: Summary: Increasing stability early in the week, with rising hazard towards week's end. Avalanche warning issued by the UAC on Thursday January 17. Friday January 11 - Quiet with no backcountry avalanches reported. Indications of increasing stability, but persistent weaknesses remain throughout the mountains in …

In this podcast, we talk again with Dave Richards, head of Alta Snow Safety. In the fall of 2017, Dave gave a presentation at the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop to a packed house of 600 people on the real dangers of traumatic stress with public safety personnel, particularly in avalanche rescue. This was ground breaking for our industry because it wasn't just the message, it was the messenger that made it so impactful. Last season we talked with Dave about The Day of Madness.

Overview: A significant storm system dropped nearly 3 feet of snow in the Cottonwoods from December 21 through December 31. From Tuesday January 1, through Friday January 4, cold clear weather prevailed, allowing the surface of the snowpack to weaken, producing a widepsread layer of near-surface facets. Southwest winds began to increase on Friday January 4, and into the day on Saturday January 5. These winds deposited fresh wind drifts onto these weak facets, conditions which allowed several human-triggered avalanches to occur during the day on Saturday January 5. Although several avalanches …