Little Cottonwood Canyon will close at 6am this morning for avalanche control work with specific backcountry closures in effect. All North side backcountry closed. South Side terrain from White Pine trailhead OK.
If you sign up for AmazonSmile and designate the Utah Avalanche Center as your favorite charity, they will donate a portion of everything you spend to the UAC. I doesn't cost you a penny and we'd really appreciate the help.
I'll be hosting the Fireside Chat at the Black Diamond store this Thursday at 7pm. Topic: Expert Intuition in High Risk - Low Frequency Events. Best if you have a decent grasp of the different avalanche problems, but all are welcome to this informal, low key, picnic - style gathering.
And the storms march on, a million snowflakes at a time. The weather gods indeed look fondly upon the Wasatch Range, though let's not forget how mischievous or mercurial they can be. (Skip down to Mountain Weather). Many areas picked up another trace to a couple inches overnight before the skies trended partly cloudy into the wee hours. Mountain temps are now in the low teens to upper single digits. Winds have now backed to the west southwest ahead of the next system, blowing 10-15mph with gusts to 25.
24 hour storm totals are 18" in the Cottonwoods and 8-12" along the Park City ridgeline...pushing storm (snow/snow-water-equivalent) totals to 36"/1.81" in LCC, 25"/1.43" in BCC, and 14"/1.20" in PC.
Week in Review by Greg Gagne
Not much to report. A dominant ridge of high pressure with clear skies and cold nights through late this past week and into Wednesday led to a weakening of the snow surface on many aspects, with several observations noting surface hoar crystals as well as near-surface facets. Winds began to increase on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, before diminishing midday on Thursday. A weak storm system deposited 3-5" in the Salt Lake mountains on Thursday.
On Wednesday, pro observer Mark White provided - as usual - an excellent observation of the snow surface prior to Thursday's small storm. Note how he highlights a thin temperature crust on west aspects that cap weaker faceted snow underneath. Observations from Thursday in the Salt Lake mountains indicated winds and warm temperatures likely destroyed the surface hoar layer ahead of the snowfall, but the layer of near-surface facets has been preserved on many shady aspects at the mid and upper elevations underneath Thursday's storm snow.
All the signs were there: natural avalanches, hair-trigger human triggered avalanches, avalanches triggered remotely, avalanches triggering avalanches, cracking, collapsing - all aspects, all elevations - you get the idea. Honestly it's been awhile since I remember it being so sensitive. All - almost all, that is, were within the new snow 4-14" deep and up to 200' wide. The exceptions - the outliers - involved intentionally ski cut storm snow or wind slabs in Summit Park of Parleys and along the Cutler Ridge of Ogden running a foot deep running on faceted snow. (Uncertain of locations? Check out Steve Achelis's Wasatch map). Pics below: Mark White, Greg Gagne (Summit Park, Neffs). Here's footage of a natural slide in Big Cottonwood: https://twitter.com/sethaweinert/status/822878967661137920/video/1
* We did hear 2nd hand of a lone backcountry skier along the Canyons Village of Park City periphery (Python area) that was caught and carried for 300'.
* Another report arrived of a party of 3 in West Porter of Mill Creek Canyon that were overrun by a shallow natural from above. They temporarily lost gear but came out unscathed.
Caution!: I'm issuing another Soapbox Warning: As traffic and delays plagued the Cottonwoods, many headed for Porter Fork of Mill Creek . I received an email describing the scene:
"At one point I counted 25 people all on the same slope at the same time. There were lots of dogs, people side-slipping the skin track, half lapping and quarter lapping, dropping in on people, blocking the entire width of the luge run out to de-skin and chat - perhaps a foreshadowing of the Wasatch in a few years and the best case I've seen yet for a discussion of standard acceptable behavior. "