The Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop is being presented tomorrow Saturday, November 2nd. Details for the morning session for professionals can be viewed HERE and the afternoon session for everyone can be viewed HERE. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
As resorts ready to open, please be courteous, obey any signage, and watch for workers and machines. Remember, the mountain resorts have not conducted any avalanche control work and their terrain MUST be treated as the backcountry.
WE WILL UPDATE THIS FORECAST AS CONDITIONS WARRANT -
Total depths of 1 to 2 1/2 feet of snow exist in the upper elevation, northerly terrain in the upper Cottonwoods. Here the pack is supportable enough for decent turns, and keeps you off the ground on slopes with a smooth surface beneath. Upper elevation closed roads and meadows are other options to avoid the rocks. Snow depths on the Park City side are generally less than a foot.
Under partly cloudy skies today, mountain temperatures were in the mid-30s to low 40s. The northwesterly winds, while blustery in the 35-40mph range above 10,000' for much of the early morning hours, have lost some steam and are now a more civilized and pedestrian 10-15mph.
Our own indefatigable forecaster Brett "Cowboy" Kobernik put this great early season snow/weather video segment together - it's worth checking out.
Enough snow for turns...enough snow to slide. A small avalanche cycle occurred Tuesday, October 29th - a mix of naturals and remotely triggered slides. All were above 10,000' on northerly facing slopes, failing on the faceted early October snow. A great way to highlight the Bull's Eye avalanche information is to click on Detailed Information, then Avalanches. (Check it out HERE). Below is a natural slide from upper Big Cottonwood from Tuesday. Most of these slides were roughly a foot deep and 60' wide or so. While no slides have been reported since Tuesday, snow tests continue to indicate lurking instability along the new snow/old snow interface. A couple videos demonstrating this can be found here.
(photo below by Brighton Snow-safety)
