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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Thursday morning, March 5, 2015

Pockets of CONSIDERABLE DANGER exist in steep northwest to northeast to southeast facing terrain above 9000' for triggering avalanches 1-3' deep and up to 200' wide. These avalanches are exceedingly dangerous and notoriously unpredictable, often releasing at a distance, above you, or on the 3rd person down the slope. The danger for wet avalanches may rise toward CONSIDERABLE on all the steep sun-exposed slopes with daytime warming.

SAFE and 5 star powder can be found on the shady aspects on slopes LESS STEEP THAN 30 DEGREES with nothing steeper above or adjacent to you. If you don't feel comfortable with the stability in the backcountry, consider heading to any one of our world class mountain resorts.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements

Utah Adventure Journal Snowbird Speaker Series, 6pm Mar 5 at the Wildflower Lounge: The Utah Avalanche Center will be joining the Utah Adventure Journal and friends of Jim Harris, photographer, writer, artist, avalanche observer and instructor in an evening of photos and presentations from Andrew McLean, Kalen Thorien, Noah Howell, Forest McCarthy, and Brendan Leonard. All proceeds will go towards helping to cover Jim's medical & rehab expenses following a kiting accident in Chile.

Join us at Brighton Mar 7 & 8 for Vertfest! Clinics include Companion Rescue, Terrain Selection, Steep Skiing, and Mountaineering for skiers/split-boarders, both open and women-only. There will also be gear demos and the Wasatch Powder Keg ski mountaineering race, all to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. More info here.

Weather and Snow

Skies are clear, morning temps are in the upper single digits to low teens. Winds are westerly to northwesterly, blowing 10-15mph with some gusts along the highest ridgelines in the 30-40mph range. Riding conditions are among the best of the year.

If you don't feel comfortable with the stability in the backcountry, consider heading to any one of our world class mountain resorts. Through a partnership with the resorts, you can pick up lift tickets here and support the Utah Avalanche Center.

Recent Avalanches

By now, most of you have likely heard of the tragic avalanche fatality of a 21 year old male snowboarder in the Hell's Canyon backcountry adjacent to the Snowbasin ski resort in the Ogden mountains. Along with the snow safety pros at the resort, we'll conduct a full investigation today. We at the UAC offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of this young man.

He was not the only person who triggered an avalanche yesterday. By my count, there were 15 human triggered avalanches in the backcountry averaging 2' deep and 100' wide on predominantly northwest through northeast through southeast facing slopes above 8500'. More than a couple were close calls with at least one and perhaps two people getting caught and carried with lost gear. And these were the avalanches we heard about. Thanks to all the folks who called our office, submitted reports, and called Alta Central or the various ski patrol dispatch offices (info in our General Announcements below). Your information helps to verify conditions, which, in turn saves lives. Thanks.

In the central Wasatch, backcountry skiers and riders triggered slides in the following terrain: Argenta, Home Run, Miller Hill, Upper Days, Wilson Fork, Wilson Glade, Mongo-No, Ivory Rock Slabs, Tyson's Folly, and five - yes five in upper Butler Basin. Many of these were triggered remotely - that is - at a distance. You can find many excellent reports and photos on these avalanches on our Detailed Info page found at the top on the Menu bar. You can also refer to Steve Achelis's paper or on-line atlas of the Wasatch at wbskiing.com. A few pics below - or to quickly scroll through all the pics across the range, go to our photos page here.

Beyond the tragic fatality, we heard of one other slab triggered in the Snowbasin backcountry - about a foot deep and 45' wide on a northwest facing aspect at 8700'.

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The February 9 storm began with graupel, followed by roughly three more inches of snow. The snow above the graupel faceted under clear skies over the next 11 days until it was buried on the 20th with 6-10" of snow. This wasn't enough to activate the layer until this past few days of storms which brought 2-3' of snow since 2/26. These active persistent slabs now are roughly 1-3' deep and up to 200' wide and are notoriously unpredictable. They are commonly triggered at a distance and avalanche - even yesterday - on the 2nd lap, with the 3rd skier on the slope, or take our previous tracks. Many steep lines were skiied or ridden yesterday with impunity - and this is what makes this type of avalanche so dangerous.

For more info on how to manage this type of avalanche, click on the 'i' next to the Persistent Slab icon...or go to our Avalanche Problem Toolbox for a cross-section comparison on all the different types of avalanches and accompanying Travel Advice.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

With direct sun and mountain temperatures rising to well above freezing today, both natural and human triggered wet avalanches are likely on any of the steep east to south to west facing slopes. Once snow starts to become damp and unsupportable, longer running and dangerous wet avalanches are imminent. Timing is key - get off of and out from underneath the steep sun-drenched terrain.

Avalanche Problem #3
Deep Slab
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Last night's touch of wind will have produced localized pockets of wind slab will dot the upper elevation easterly slopes. These will be enough to catch and carry a person who fails to avoid or mitigate the hazard on the steeper alpine terrain.

Additional Information

We'll have sunny skies, generally light west to northwesterly winds and temps rising to the mid to upper 30s at 8000', the mid 20s at 10,000'. A building ridge of high pressure will dominate the weather pattern for the next week.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com. Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol. Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 exist.

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