We've completed the report on last Saturday's tragic avalanche in the backcountry in Mill Creek Canyon above Salt Lake City that killed four skiers.
Final Accident Report
The UAC in Logan is offering a Youth BC 101 avalanche class for youth aged 16-20 on Feb 21. For more info and to register, click
HEREHeavy snow is falling in the Logan Zone again this morning, and plenty more snow will fall today and overnight, with another foot or two expected to accumulate on upper elevation slopes by Wednesday morning. Around a foot of snow fell overnight, with 1.6" SWE in the last 24 hours at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel. It's currently 20°F and there is 76 inches of total snow and back up to 82% of normal SWE. West-northwest winds are blowing around 22 mph this morning at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station.
With widespread layers of preexisting very weak snow, the significant increase in load has created very dangerous avalanche conditions on many slopes in the backcountry.
It's snowing at a decent rate this morning and plenty more snow is expected today in the mountains, with another foot of accumulation possible by this evening. High temperatures at 8500' will be around 23°F, with moderate west-northwest winds. Snow, heavy at times, will continue tonight with another 4 to 8 inches accumulating on upper elevation slopes by Wednesday morning. Expect HIGH avalanche danger in the backcountry today, perhaps rising to EXTREME later this afternoon or tonight!
Saturday (2-13-2021), a party of local backcountry skiers remotely triggered a large avalanche in "the Gut" of White Pine Knob above the yurt in the popular Bunch Grass Canyon. The 4' deep and about 500' wide avalanche occurred on a southeast facing slope at around 8900' in elevation. The slope angle at the crown was in the lower 30° range, but the slope rolls to 40 degrees in the Gut itself, and the hard slab was well connected, pulling out even on the lower angled slope above and on each side of the steep section.
Thursday (2-11-2021), riders remotely triggered a large hard slab avalanche on a pretty low angled slope in the Peter Sinks Area (an area that is not well known for avalanches). The avalanche on an east facing slope at around 8300' in elevation was around 100 feet wide and 2 to 7 feet deep, and it stacked large chunks and piles of debris into the trees below. It was the third such hard slab avalanche to occur this week on a fairly low angled slope (between 30 and 35 degrees) and in a rather unexpected place. All have been in the eastern part of the Bear River Range...
