Observation: Laurel Highway

Observation Date

2/22/2026

Observer Name

Trenbeath, Ament, Grote

Region

Moab » Laurel Highway

Location Name or Route

Laurel Highway to Pre-Laurel Peak-Westwoods

Weather

Sky

Few

Wind Direction

Southwest

Wind Speed

Light

Weather Comments

A few more clouds than I anticipated. Light winds and warm temperatures in the mid 30's at 10,000'.

Snow Characteristics

Snow Surface Conditions

Powder

Wind Crust

Melt-Freeze Crust

Damp

Snow Characteristics Comments

A few hour period of 20-25 mph SW winds in the morning affected the snow surface above treeline on exposed, windward slopes. The snow didn't take on near as much heat as I thought it might today, mostly due to thin high cloud cover, and a slight westerly breeze. Due south aspects did get damp and will be crusted, but many areas were spared. Settled powder on north aspects is still abundant.

Wind affected snow above treeline.

Red Flags

Recent Avalanches

Wind Loading

Collapsing

Poor Snowpack Structure

Red Flags Comments

Got a look around and saw several large natural avalanches failing on PWL's of varying depths in the snowpack that ran at some point during the storm on Friday, Feb 20. A recent slide into Horse Creek appeared to have only gone as deep as the Feb 11 PWL. Large slides in Talking Mountain and Red Snow Cirque appeared to have gone deeper. A smaller slide in Middle Cirque was filled back in and impossible to say. Some wind loading had occurred from the morning's SW winds adding more stress to PWL's on northeasterly aspects. Snowpack structure is of course, poor, and an ECT produced a score of ECTP19 on the Feb 11 PWL left of Coyote Chute. I observed one significant collapse on the skin trail up Westwoods after countless parties had used it. It was in a shallow area rife with dense young aspen, but it was significant.

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

Persistent Weak Layer

Problem #1 Comments

Not a lot to say about this that hasn't been said. 22" of new snow and hard wind slabs over top of a mostly faceted base have created unstable conditions. Large natural avalanches, collapsing, and reactive stability tests all show that this is a problem not to be messed with. Deep and dangerous, human triggered avalanches remain likely.

Comments

Slides in all three cirques of Gold Basin.

Talking Mountain Cirque avalanche.

Middle Cirque/Golden Throne avalanche.

Horse Creek avalanche. Appears to only go down to the Feb 11 PWL. It looked like it propagated much wider further down slope and may have gone deeper.

Today's Observed Danger Rating

Considerable

Coordinates

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