Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the prior week. (Review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday, December 10 through Thursday, December 16: Summary: Early season storms in October and early November gave a promising start to the season, but an extended dry spell of cold, clear weather weakened the snowpack on the shady, northerly aspects at the mid and upper elevations, turning the existing snow surface into weak, sugary facets. A storm system …

Batteries for Beacons Program The goal of this program is to get you free batteries for your avalanche beacon! Bring your beacon into a participating shop between Dec 4-11, and sign up by scanning a QR Code and providing your name, email, and recreation region. When you sign up and receive batteries, you are eligible for a drawing for 20 probe and shovel combos. At the end of Avalanche Awareness Week, winners will be drawn! Find a list of participating shops below. Participating Shops ADS Motorsports 2339 S 1900 W Ogden, …

Utah's 3rd Annual Avalanche Awareness Week is Upon Us! Three years ago the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 380, which recognizes the first week of December as Avalanche Awareness Week. Join the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation, Utah State Parks, and Utah Department of Transportation to celebrate the Third Annual Avalanche Awareness week, from December 5- December 11th. The goal of this week is to ultimately save lives through activities that promote avalanche awareness, education, and safety. We have a variety of events to promote avalanche safety this …

Leveraging Digital Mapping Tools for Planning and Communication: Using CalTopo for winter backcountry travel and avalanche forecasting. Meghan Twohig, CalTopo Training and Support, USAW 2020, summarized by Jeremy Collett CalTopo is a dynamic, digital mapping program that allows you to integrate multiple layers of mapping information and bring it with you into the backcountry using the CalTopo app. In her presentation, Leveraging Digital Mapping Tools for Planning and Communication: Using CalTopo for winter backcountry travel and avalanche forecasting, Megan Twohig from CalTopo …

Take me to your powder: The importance of tracking early season weak layers… how long do they persist? Mark Staples, Utah Avalanche Center, USAW 2020, summarized by Jeremy Collett. It’s October and it’s snowing in the mountains. Early season snow is exciting, but it can also be deadly. In the last 10 years over 60% of avalanche fatalities in Utah have involved avalanches breaking on early season snow. Avalanches that happen on old, early season snow, are often extremely large, wide, and deadly. In Utah, we often get snow in October and early November followed by a dry …

Join us for the 14th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW), where Utah’s avalanche community will team up with snow professionals from around the west to share avalanche knowledge. Regional avalanche workshops are the most time and cost-effective way to build and refresh advanced avalanche skills available. This is your chance to learn from avalanche experts and brush up your skills before the start of the season. You’ll learn from forecasters, patrollers, snow scientists, highway avalanche crews, search & rescue personnel, mountain guides, ski industry manufacturers, …

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