Join the Utah Avalanche Center and the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation to celebrate the Fourth Annual Avalanche Awareness week from December 4 - December 11. Click
HERE to view the full list of events for the week.
Under overcast skies with light snow falling mountain temperatures range from the mid 20's F at the trailheads to the mid teens F at 9,000'. Westerly winds are blowing into the low teens MPH at the 9000' ridgelines. New snow blankets the Wasatch from the top of the mountains all the way to the valley. Ski areas reported 3" of new snow.
For today, snow 1" forecasted. Mostly cloudy with temperatures 24-28 F with westerly winds 15 gusting to 25 MPH at the 9000' ridgelines. Expect to see periods of clearing. Freezing level is forecast to be around 6400'.
There was an observation of a skier triggered soft slab avalanche on an east aspect at 7800' on
Cutler Ridge. This avalanche was
3' DEEP and approximately
100' WIDE. It ran to within 2' of the uphill skin track. This avalanche was triggered from below and ran on a persistent weak layer.
Photo: Tiedes
Yesterday the UAC joined Park City Snow Safety to look at an
avalanche that was triggered late in the day on Saturday December 4th. This avalanche was within Park City Ski Area's boundary in closed terrain that is representative of a backcountry snowpack. This avalanche is one of the biggest reported thus far on the November drought layer.
Photo: deepest part of the crown 6' (Park City Snow Safety)
We continue to see deep
avalanches reported by backcountry skiers and ski patrols. These avalanches will only get bigger as we add more snow and wind to an already weak layer. Yesterday we went to look at an avalanche near the Brighton periphery that ran into the flats on an east facing slope off Clayton Peak. The wind was continuing to re-load this slope and is a location where we are likely to see skier triggered avalanches in the future. Remember that as soon as you leave the ski area boundary you are in backcountry terrain.