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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik for
Sunday, January 13, 2013

A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger remains on west through north through east facing slopes below 9500 feet and especially in sheltered terrain. Human triggered avalanches are probable. Remotely triggered avalanches are possible so anticipate someone walking a ridge above you who may inadvertently trigger and avalanche on top of you. In other words, do not ascend in avalanche paths. You also could trigger an avalanche from below onto yourself. Human triggered avalanches are also possible above 9500 feet.

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Weather and Snow

It's cold this morning with temperatures around 10 below zero or colder. Winds are generally light from the northwest.

Recent Avalanches

The now buried facets from early January showed their cards on Saturday with numerous human triggered avalanches including at least two separate incidents with at least partial burials and one of these involved injuries and an organized rescue.

A large avalanche in Porter Fork was triggered by a two person party ascending the slope. They were both caught and details are sketchy but one was at least partially or fully buried, recovered by her partner and extricated by Wasatch Backcountry Rescue. This is as close to a tragedy as they come. DETAILS

For the second day in a row, another ski touring party with good avalanche experience triggered an avalanche in Depth Hoar Bowl in Alexander Basin, Millcreek where a skier was caught, carried and buried with a hand sticking out. It was the 3rd person to descend the slope. Any more takers for Depth Hoar Bowl today? DETAILS

A skier triggered a couple of avalanches breaking into faceted snow on Antelope Island. DETAILS

A number of remotely triggered avalanches were reported as well:

Collapsing was a common theme in backcounry observations such as this EXCELLENT observation from Greg Gagne who was traveling in Porter Fork on Saturday prior to the mentioned incident. DETAILS

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

It's all there people. The early January snow surface deteriorated and was a documented weak layer prior to this storm. A rime event added a bit of complexity. The somewhat unusual storm put down a good amount snow in many locations but not quite enough to produce a natural cycle. All it took was us to poke at it a bit to find out how it would react, and now we know. It's reactive. It is more reactive in the protected mid elevations that did not get hammered by the pre-storm strong southerly winds. The higher terrain also did not receive as much snow but that doesn't make it green light conditions.

So, now it's up to you to control your urge for the steep and deep. If you're going to get into the steep stuff you better be honest with yourself and be VERY sure you're not dealing with too much new snow sitting on top of weak facets. I don't like persistent weak layers. They scare the hell out of me. Persistent weak layers are called that because they persist long after the new snow itself has stabilized. They pose the greatest threat to backcountry travelers and are responsible for almost all of the avalanche fatalities that occur in Utah. I will be ratcheting back as I get into the backcountry again after this storm and will REALLY be sniffing around and carefully analyzing this buried weakness prior to getting onto many of my favorite slopes.

I anticipate hearing about continue collapsing and human triggered avalanches today.

Additional Information

It's going to be another cold day today. We could see a few snow showers without much accumulation expected. Northwest winds will be mostly light and shift a little more north as the day goes on. Temperatures slowly start to rebound on Monday into Tuesday. No significant storms are in our near future.

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.

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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