Tonight, Thursday 1/19 - Utah Adventure Journal hosts professional adventure skier Brody Leven as he presents on a recent trip to the remote Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan to attempt steep first descents on massive, remote peaks. More Details here.
High clouds streamed into the region overnight, in advance of a quick moving storm slated to slide through the area later today. In the meantime, temperatures are in the mid to upper 20's and southwest winds bumped into the 20's and 30's along the high ridges early this morning. The sun is getting stronger and sun exposed aspects have taken on some heat and will be a bit funky today. But swing around to the north half of the compass and you'll find excellent riding and turning conditions on wind sheltered, shady slopes.
Getting out of the valley smog offers amazing views of the eastern front.
Remarkably PHAT... probably hasn't been this white for sometime. I'm thinking 1992/93 is the last time the Uinta's had similar coverage. Ted stomped around Mirror Lake Tuesday. Click here for his take on things.
Surface hoar... this fragile and notoriously tricky crystal (similar to dew that grows on our lawn) has formed on wind sheltered, shady slopes and it might become a dangerous player in our snowpack if it gets preserved and buried. Something to keep an eye on later this week as weather turns more stormy. A viddy explaining our current state of snowpack affairs is found here.
Additional snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.
Real time wind, snow, and temperatures for the Uinta's are found here
No recent avalanche activity to report.
A full list of Uinta avalanche activity is found here.