We have a pile of events and classes coming up - check out the calendar of events here.
New blog post - Shame and the Social Contract
Skies are clear in the mountains. Winds are being channeled from the east and northeast in Provo canyon and are gusting in the 20s at Arrowhead summit. Temps are in the teens. Surface Hoar abounds (see Wewer pic below). Clear skies, light winds, and high RH (relative humidity) yield yet again another crop of surface hoar. Recall that surface hoar is the winter-time equivalent of dew, but it has the mark of Cain, if the two are related. Fun to ski and ride through and beautiful as crystal, but dangerous and unpredictable if buried by another storm. Commonly, the fragile "feathers" decay or are destroyed by sun and wind in the pre-frontal environment, but worth mapping out along the topography prior to the next weather events. Riding conditions are 4 stars out of 5. Sunny aspects have fewer stars with a breakable melt-freeze crust this morning.
Rough storm totals (read Snow/SWE - Snow-Water-Equivalent). See above for the years SWE % of normal.
Since last Saturday night ---------Since New Years----------------------Total snow depths
Upper LCC: 37"/4.48"................. 72"/6.90".................... Total snow depths are 80-90"
Upper BCC: 46"/4.78"............... 103"/8.46".................... Total snow depths are 80-95"
PC ridgeline: 41"/4.70"............... 80"/7.4" ..................... Total snow depths are 75-85"
Ogden 27"/2.5"-62"/7.95"............ 46"/3.71-83"/10.23..............Total snow depths are 80-100"
Provo 35"/3.19" ....................... 67"/5.79" ................. ... Total snow depths are 80-120"
A cornice drop triggered a 16" deep and reported 500' wide soft slab on a steep east facing slope at 9500' in upper West Porter Fork of Mill Creek Canyon in the central Wasatch. (Photos: Sisk/Jamison). The original observer reported seeing debris cascading down toward him where the initial alarm undoubtedly transitioned to relief and then on to anger and disappointment.
Natural wet loose avalanches ran on some of the steepest southerly aspects with some debris piles large enough to bury a person.