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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Evelyn Lees
Issued by Evelyn Lees on
Wednesday morning, January 15, 2014

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE – large avalanches are possible in specific terrain. The uncertainty on a specific slope is great – not every steep slope will slide, but if it does, a slide has the potential to be very large. This deep slab problem is most pronounced on northwest through easterly facing slopes, above about 8,500. The avalanche danger for wet slides will rise to MODERATE on and below steep sunny slopes as the day heats up.

Safer terrain to recreate on are slopes less steep than about 35 degrees, not directly below or connected to the side of a steeper slope.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements

Canyons resort will be conducting control work this morning, firing an avalauncher into the McDonald Draw area of the Park City ridge line. Please stay away from this area.

Weather and Snow

A clear, calmer morning, with all but the highest peaks having northwesterly winds averaging less than 15 mph. Temperatures this morning are in the low 20s, with the high ridgelines in the upper teens. Many of the sunny slopes are crusted, though will soften, and shady slopes have a mix of wind slab, rime crusts and powder.

Recent Avalanches

Ogden area mountains: in Farmington Canyon, snowmobilers triggered several slides to the ground, up to 4 feet deep, with one rider getting caught. DETAILS In Hells Canyon (out of bounds from Snowbasin), a skier triggered a 3-5’ deep, 175’ wide, hard slab, that ran 2000’ vertical down a gully, with debris piling up 25’ deep. This was on a NE facing slope at 9,000’. DETAILS Explosive control work at Ogden area resorts also released deep hard slabs on NE facing slopes, up to 5 feet deep, failing on the ground. Farmington Canyon slide below.

Salt Lake and Park City mountains – the Cottonwood resorts had unpredictable results, that released a monster 6-8’ deep, plus a variety of slides 2 to 4 feet deep, and a sympathetic 500’ away from a shot. These hard slabs were breaking out on two levels – below the recent storm snow and deeper, near the ground.

Provo area mountains – evidence of naturals in Slide Canyon and Lost Creek from around January 9th.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

With good visibility in the backcountry, we know there was unfortunately not the widespread natural activity we hoped to see. Once again this winter, a storm overloaded the weak layers, but with not with enough weight to trigger a widespread natural avalanche cycle. So we are again stuck with a Deep Slab and/or Persistent Slab issue that is going to be a hard concept to live with – there are only a few places where you can trigger a slide, yet …if you do, it could be a large, to the ground killer. Slides can be triggered remotely from a distance, and it may not be the first person on a slope to trigger the slide. Forecasting for an individual slope is difficult.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Another sunny day with even warmer temperatures will heat the snow on sunny slopes, especially those that are steep and wind sheltered. The first signs will be roller balls, followed by point releases or sluffs. A few shallow slabs are possible due to the variety of buried crusts and facets and warming wind slabs on sunny slopes. Timing is everything with wet slides – stay off steep sunny slopes once they heat, or stay low angle.

Additional Information

It’s going to be a warm, sunny blue sky day, with temperatures warming to near 40 at 8,000 feet and 32 at 10,000’. The winds are continuing to decrease, and will average less than 15 mph in most terrain. Speeds across the highest ridges will still be brisk – 30 to 40 mph averages, with gusts in the 50s at times. The future is bleak – with no snow in the forecast for a week or more.

General Announcements

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-231-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY Get the Salt Lake avalanche advisory emailed to you every morning. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day. They'll be up and running later this winter -

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com - Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel. Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol. Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

Ski Utah mobile snow updates:
http://www.skiutah.com/get-mobile-snow-updates/

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