Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the previous week. (Review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) 

The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday, January 8 through Thursday, January 14:

Summary: This past week was marked by the tragic fatality of a snowboarder in an avalanche in Dutch Draw along the Park City Ridgeline. A total of eight avalanches are reported to the UAC over this past week.

Friday, January 8: A 31-year old man is killed in an avalanche in Dutch Draw along the Park City ridgeline. The slide was 2' deep, 150' wide, and ran over 400' vertical. The weak layer was a persistent weak layer that has plagued the Utah mountains all season long. The full UAC report has been published. 

Saturday, January 9: Two additional avalanches are reported, again failing in weak faceted snow: Silver Fork and Pioneer Bowl  in the Brighton backcountry (photo below). These slides were on northerly aspects above 9000'

Further to our north in the Logan area mountains, there is a close call in Franklin Basin where a snow machiner was caught, carried, and buried underneath the snow for 15 minutes. A dramatic rescue. This ~6 minute video is definitely worth watching:

Sunday, January 10: Another avalanche failing in the persistent weak layer along the Park City Ridgeline. This was on a slope between No Name and No No Name, 9200' NE aspect. Remotely triggered above a steeper rollover.

Monday, January 11: Yet another avalanche failing in the persistent weak layer. This one on Guild Line in Silver Fork Canyon. This was a large avalanche - 2.5' deep and 200' wide. Had the rider not been able to quickly get off of this slide, it is likely the consequences would have been very significant as the slide ran an estimated 1000' vertical, depositing 12-15' of debris in a terrain trap at the bottom of the debris.

Tuesday, January 12: No backcountry avalanches are reported. After several days of stable weather, warming temperatures, very strong winds, and a riming event that left some snow surfaces crusted.

Wednesday, January 13: Warming temperatures with cloudy skies that trap the heat result in a loose wet avalanche on a low-elevation northerly slope in Hogum Fork. A party was climbing ice in this area and several, sizable sluffs engulfed them. Fortunately no injuries.

Thursday, January 14: Clearing skies, diminished winds, and colder temperatures freeze and "lock-up" the snowpack. No backcountry avalanches are reported.