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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Friday, December 28, 2012

Continue to avoid: upper elevation, steep slopes that face the shady parts of of the compass (northerly and easterly).

Watch for: loose avalanches and occasional soft slabs within the new snow, especially above terrain traps, cliffs or trees.

Safer terrain: south facing slopes still have great riding conditions with a safer underlying snowpack, and of course, on the lower angled terrain.

Overall: there is a Moderate danger with pockets of Considerable danger on upper elevation slopes that face the north and east quadrants of the compass.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow

With just an inch of snow overnight, the storm totals since Wednesday are about a foot in most areas with nearly 2 feet in some areas of the upper Cottonwood Canyons as well as the Provo and Ogden area mountains. This is in addition to the 1 - 1.5 feet of new snow on Monday. And it's all very low density snow--over-the-head blower powder--the reason most of us live here. My only complaint is that it's TOO DEEP, which is positive proof that I will complain about anything if given the chance. Trail breaking is a chore and you need to be on a steep slope to get going on skis or a board. As the snow settles, it should get even better. Temperatures remained cold overnight in the mid to lower teens with very little wind.

It's still cloudy and snowing lightly but it should slowly clear out today with the sun peeking through especially at upper elevations.

Recent Avalanches

We had 3 human triggered avalanches reported yesterday with no one caught.

1) Kessler Peak, north facing, 9,000' on a steep rollover in a forest clearing. See the great writeup and video by Trent Meisenheimer. This broke on buried faceted snow.
2) Days Fork, several intentionally-triggered slabs from cornice drops and slope cutting. These broke beneath the wind slabs from last weekend.
3) Cinder Chutes near Canyons Resort. This appeared to be a wind slab running on a repeater slide path.

Yesterday morning there was also quite a few loose avalanches within the new snow and in places that got the most new snow, there was sensitive soft slabs within the new snow. Most of these should be settled out by today.

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Don't forget that there are still monsters in the basement. Although the very light new snow does not weigh very much, especially combined with places where the wind blew last weekend, there is enough weight to reactivate some of the buried faceted snow layers deep in the snowpack. It's especially tricky because it's very "pockety" in its distribution and they are all hidden beneath the perfect facade--a thick blanket of powder snow. They are impossible even for seasoned pros to detect and predict, so the only option is to avoid the kinds of slopes where you will find these big boobie traps--namely the upper elevation, steep slopes that face west, northwest, north, northeast and east.

Hot tip: Since the riding conditions are just as good on south facing slopes, you should head there first and switch to the more dangerous, shaded slopes after the south get sun crusted.

Avalanche Problem #2
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

With very DEEP foof on the surface, expect loose snow avalanches and occasional, soft slabs. Don't let one carry you into a terrain trap, into trees or over a cliff. Also, remember to stick closely with your partner because suffocation by snow immersion is always a problem in such deep, light snow (falling upside down and not being able to get up without help). For instance, yesterday, my ski went under a buried bush and I needed help to get out.

Additional Information

We still have low elevation moisture coming in from the north and northwest. We should have cloudy skies this morning with light snow showers and it should slowly clear out by afternoon with the sun peeking through especially at higher elevations. Winds should thankfully remain light with continued cold temperatures, rising from the lower teens into the lower 20's by afternoon. Saturday should be partly cloudy to mostly sunny with continued light winds and temperatures should rise into the mid 20's

The extended forecast calls for a weaker disturbance with clouds and a chance of snow for Sunday evening into Monday.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Ala, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Solitude, 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.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

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 bysubmitting 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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