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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Tuesday morning, February 5, 2013

Localized areas of CONSIDERABLE danger exist in the steep northwest through east facing slopes and more pronounced in the upper elevations. Natural avalanches are not expected; however human triggered slides up to 3' deep and 200' wide remain possible. You can always find safer terrain on slopes less steep than 30 degrees that are not locally-connected to steeper terrain above or adjacent to you.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow

Skies are partly cloudy with warming temperatures through the night and light to moderate westerly winds. Temps are in the mid 20s up high, the teens down low. Riding conditions offer a mixed bag of sun and wind crusts with soft settled powder found in the sheltered terrain. It was good day to cover some terrain and look at the avalanches in Silver Fork and No-Name. We all head out into the backcountry for different reasons - solitude, great powder, exercise, thin wallet, aesthetics, friendship. At times yesterday I was overcome by my - our - stroke of good luck to walk in the mountain ranges that we love. Lucky indeed.

Recent Avalanches

There were no avalanches reported to us from the backcountry yesterday. It should also be noted that there were significantly fewer triggers out in the backcountry yesterday as well. The fine print is below -

There have been 11 significant human triggered avalanches since January 31st that we have heard about. Many others have gone unreported..as other catch and carries are in the rumor-mill and are not confirmed. Add one dot to the graph below for 8,900' NW. Bruce wrote up a good synopsis of the events so far on our Blog site. I say so far because I don't believe we are through adding dots to the activity rose below.

Of these 11 slides, they are equal opportunity avalanches - involving skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers with many of those caught off guard having a significant amount of experience. What then, for the "babe in the woods"? These slides were 1.5'-4' deep and up to 400' wide. Bruce has an excellent investigation of the Monte Cristo full burial from Friday; Evelyn wrapped up Sunday's Silver Fork full burial here. Let's take a bit of a closer look at the near misses and avalanche involvements since Friday:

Caught: 5 (No Name, Silver Fork, Mill B South, Monte Cristo, Y Not in AF)

Carried: 5 (Y Not snowboarder carried over 300' down the slope)

Partial Burials: 1 (No Name)

Full Burials: 2 (Silver Fork headwall, Monte Cristo) - Each person buried 4' deep -

Well Executed Rescues and Recoveries: 2

Significant Injuries: None

Fatalities: None

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The avalanches are becoming more difficult to trigger, yet the consequences remain the same - femur snapping, full burial potential. They're not your parents' garden variety avalanches. We labor, argue, tease apart the pros and cons of what to call these avalanches and no one is happy. Especially the guy or gal that just reads MODERATE and thinks GO...hits 7 big lines but gets completely buried and broken on the 8th. Remember these slides have been triggered remotely (at a distance), they've been triggered by the 2nd, 3rd, even 6th person on the slope. It's no good.

True, the snowpack has gradually gained a touch of stability over the past couple of days; true we had no reports of slides yesterday....but to me, it doesn't matter. Returning along the ridge from No Name yesterday we walked across the top of No-No Name (another steep north-east facing slope)...and walked on by.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Low danger - and good riding conditions - can be found on many aspects and elevations on gentle 30 degree slopes. Want steeper terrain? Hit the southwest to south aspects, ride the chairs at one of our world class mountain resorts, or do the homework and accept some level of risk.

As always, avoid being on the steepest sun exposed slopes during the heat of the day...

Additional Information

We'll have partly cloudy skies, 10,000' temps rising to near 30, and light to moderate westerly winds. A weak brush by moves through tomorrow, dropping temps back to the mid teens, but no precipitation is expected. A more significant system moves through Friday through the weekend.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Park City, Beaver Mountain, Canyons, Sundance, and Wolf Mountain. All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche Center.

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)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Powder Mountain Ski Patrol Dispatch (801-745-3773 ex 123)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

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Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ .

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 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

For a print version of this advisory click HERE.

This advisory is produced by the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist. Specific terrain and route finding decisions should always be based on skills learned in a field-based avalanche class.

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