In the last six days, there have been 10 avalanche fatalities -
3 skiers in Colorado,
1 skier in Colorado,
3 hikers in Alaska,
1 skier in New Hampshire,
1 skier in California, and
1 skier in Utah on Square Top Mountain near Park City. Conditions are dangerous in most regions, and ours is no exception. Please stay conservative in your terrain choices.
The Geyser Pass Road was plowed Monday morning. Conditions are snow-packed and icy and all-wheel drive is recommended.
The Lower Utah Nordic Alliance (LUNA) has groomed all trails from Geyser Pass through Gold Basin with the classic track as yesterday.
24 Hour Snow 0" 72 Hour Snow 2" Base Depth in Gold Basin 40" Wind NW 10-20 Temp 4F
A strong storm system embedded in a northwest flow will bring snow to Northern Utah and Colorado while leaving us high and dry in the south. Today look for partly sunny skies, blustery, westerly winds blowing in the 10-20 mph range with gusts in the 30's. High temps at 10,000' will be in the lower 20's. Conditions remain dry through the weekend. Varying model solutions suggest the next opportunity for a chance of snow will come on late Tues-Wed. Most solutions favor a moderate snow event for northern Utah and north-central Colorado. The GFS model is the outlier that shows snow for our region. Confidence in this solution is currently low.
Snowpack Discussion
I don't have any reports from the backcountry yesterday. It's now been 6 days since our last significant loading event and warm temperatures have settled and consolidated the recent snow. On sunny aspects, the snow surface has crusted over. Moderate SW-NW winds have scoured exposed, windward slopes while alternately loading leeward, easterly facing slopes. On NW-N-E aspects, dangerous slabs 2'-3' deep are perched above the weak underlying snowpack. These slabs are growing more stubborn by the day but they remain primed and ready for human triggers.
Chris Benson was up on Thursday and produced the following video on current conditions and snowpack structure.
