Get Your Ticket to the 32nd Annual Backcountry Benefit on September 11th! Support Forecasting, Awareness, and Education
Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Weather Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Class List UAC Class List Online Classes Resources and Tutorials Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Observation Date
1/20/2013
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Quick up-and-back to upper bowl
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
I went out on a day off skiing with my wife in Broad's Fork. Another day in paradise--as long as you were above the smog layer, which topped out around 7,000'
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
It's beginning to be a facet fest. It seems the entire snowpack is composed of various forms of faceted snow--some loose, soft and bottomless and some hard and supportable--with a thick layer of surface hoar on top. Old wind slabs still litter the landscape in upper elevation, wind exposed terrain. Sun exposed slopes have a sun crust. Still 6 inches of nice, fast-riding, soft, dry, near-surface faceted snow and surface hoar on the wind and sun shelteered slopes. Best riding is mid elevation wind and sun protected slopes. Bonkers was completely tracked out and a few people have left tracks in the upper bowl, to Dromedary Saddle and into Enie and Menie in Mill B. Broad's trees east facing in the lower canyon were also quite tracked.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
I did not see any red flags of concern where I went today. Because of our crack-o-noon start from the house, plus a picnic in the sun, we just barely made it to the edge of the upper bowl when we ran out of time. So I did not get to experience the wind slabs in the upper bowl. We ran into another party that said they experienced a couple collapses in the upper bowl and they did not like they way their column tests were behaving, so they were a little chose not to ride some of the more committing slopes. But where I was, the snow seemed like the faceting process is rapidly chewing up layers and releasing any stored energy in the snowpack, so it seemed dead and unreactive. We got on several 35 degree slopes but most not wind affected.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

Still cautious of the lingering wind slabs with faceted snow underneath at upper elevations. Most are probably dormant but they require respect. It seems with tracks most everywhere and several days since the last wind event, we are probably at low danger or close with the exception of some lingering wind slabs on top of faceted snow, which will be pockety and hard to detect.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments

Although most of the wet activity has already run its course during the warm up a few days ago, I did spot one small glide avalanche off the usual steep rock slabs, 2' deep and 20' wide. It looked rather recent but could have been a day or two old since I did not get up to it.

Comments

I did not dig a snow profile since several hand pits did not indicate anything too alarming and the snowpack is so variable and so faceted it seemed like a wast of time. I would have liked to have the time to explore some of the lingering wind slabs up higher.