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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Saturday morning, December 29, 2018
Areas of MODERATE danger exist for steep wind drifted slopes. Human triggered avalanches are possible on many aspects and more pronounced at the upper elevations. An isolated chance exists for avalanches stepping down into the old weak snow at or near the ground in shallow, rocky terrain (generally northwest to east facing slopes). In some of the steeper terrain, loose snow avalanches may run with provocation.
Safe travel protocol is key today: Travel one at a time in steep terrain, keep your partner in sight and be in position to get to them quickly should there be an avalanche.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Mountain temperatures struggle to stay on this side of zero along the ridgelines and in the basins and valleys but should slowly warm toward the low teens today. Winds backed from the east-northeast and are now blowing 10-15mph from the northwest. 11,000' winds hum at 25mph with gusts to 35. Skiing and riding conditions remain excellent in the wind protected areas.
We'll see increasing cloud cover today along with warming temperatures ahead of another quick hitting storm for tomorrow. Tomorrow's storm should produce another 2-5" of very low density snow while ushering some of the coldest temps of the winter. We'll be back in the icebox at or below zero yet again.
Recent Avalanches
Greg's excellent Week in Review can be found here.
No avalanche activity reported from the Provo mountains yesterday, but the only reports were from the north fork of Provo Canyon.
In the central Wasatch, both natural and human-triggered soft slabs 8-16" deep were reported in steep wind-swept terrain in the upper elevations yesterday. Many of these were cross-loaded by the east/northeast winds onto aspects with a southerly component, but not all. Terrain has a way of channeling drifts onto a multitude of aspects. One skier triggered a hard slab that broke 30' above him and was briefly caught and carried with no incident.
  • The outlier was a natural hard slab that broke into old snow 2-3' deep and 80' wide just south of the Cardiac Ridge in Cardiff Fork of BCC. It's steep terrain facing northeast at roughly 10,500'. (pc: Wilson). Perhaps a shallow sluff cascading from above crow-barred the thing out.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Wind slabs can still be triggered today in steep terrain. Awareness and caution, if not outright mitigation, should be exercised. Remember that soft slabs you're "in"; hard slabs you're "on". Hard wind slabs are troublesome in that they don't often respond to a cornice drop or ski cut and may ultimately pull out with the third skier or rider. Increasing northwest wind has "colored in" more potentially drifted terrain today at the upper elevations. They remain pockety in the mid-elevations.
Wind drifts can look rounded and smooth and certainly feel more thick or punchy when you move through them. Shooting cracks or audible collapsing of a drift on lower density snow below are red flags to turn around.
Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
In isolated areas (thinner snowpack areas or terrain that has previously avalanched this season), human triggered avalanches 1-3' deep may again run on weak sugary faceted snow. These areas are generally on northwest to east facing terrain above about 9000'. Mark Staples and Chris Covington (UDOT Provo Canyon) have an excellent report here from the Provo mountains yesterday with some good insight into the buried weaknesses in the basement of the snowpack.
Additional Information
Twenty minutes after publishing yesterday's forecast of Considerable for wind slabs, I get a call that someone skinning up Little Superior above LCC had triggered a wind slab that ran over 1500'. An hour later, it was relayed to me that another skier heading uphill had triggered another wind slab, only this avalanche nearly took out four people below. They don't call it Wasangeles here for nothing. Try to spread out a touch, work from island of safety to island of safety. Even when going uphill.
To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.
Backcountry Emergencies. (clickable link)It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.
If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.
Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort/PCMR Dispatch (435-615-1911)
Ogden - Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123)
Provo - Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)
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This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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