Observation: Ephraim Canyon

Observation Date

2/7/2014

Observer Name

Darce Trotter/ Steve Cote

Region

Skyline » Ephraim Canyon

Location Name or Route

Ephriam Canyon, Cottonwood Creek

Weather

Sky

Obscured

Precipitation

Moderate Snowfall

Wind Direction

Southwest

Wind Speed

Moderate

Weather Comments

tried to get up over Fairview Canyon Summit, visibility <100', snowing hard, winds 25+ on road, following plows up, but were towing snomo's on trailer, no where to park, so when we got a chance, we turned around at the Scofield turnoff and retreated. Steves great suggestion to try Ephriam Canyon, much better visibility, thought it was more useful than stumbling around in blowing snow not able to see anything. Visibility was good up to Bluebell area, but deteriorated quickly as we ascended into the wind. Upwards of 6" new snow on top of last weeks 12" are improving coverage, winds continued to blow all day, but snow was less intense and stopped in Ephriam Canyon as the day progressed. Winds were loading NE slopes off ridge tops at upper elevations,

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth

Snow Surface Conditions

Powder

Snow Characteristics Comments

overnight snow is still right side up, in sheltered areas no slab exists, just fist ++ to 3 finger and well behaved. We were able to push slope angles into the 30's for short pitches because new snow is just not connected and we remained in gladed west through northwest areas in the aspens. The only collapse we experienced was on uptrack and we stopped over steep cutbank above old timber road for our snowpit. Otherwise, we did have some cracking as we checked out the edges of more wind effected terrain, but were focused on some skiing and have to admit it has continued to improve, very fast, skied like over 2' of powder but the lower pack was facets but less punchy than last weekend

Red Flags

Heavy Snowfall

Wind Loading

Poor Snowpack Structure

Red Flags Comments

new snow over facets is not a good combination, but sheltered aspen glades we spent the day were well behaved, snow not dense or settled enough to connect over distance, and aspens were close enough together to break up any continuity while keeping you on your turns with nice open spots in lower angle terrain. We were not about to tackle the Bluebell area, that steeper terrain that was loading is not to be trusted. Even in our sheltered snowpit ECT had some pop when facets failed

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

Persistent Weak Layer

Trend

Increasing Danger

Problem #1 Comments

Hazard will only increase with continued winds and new snow, warming temps, etc

Avalanche Problem #2

Problem

New Snow

Trend

Increasing Danger

Problem #2 Comments

bottom 2/3 of pack is still extremely weak and we sandboxed in several areas putting in our uptrack, and if you stepped off your skis anywhere, boots would penetrate to ground. poles pushed to ground everywhere, but lower facets are slowly gaining strength,

more snow = more load = reactivating facet failure, but if the Wasatch Plateau does not get the 2"-3" of water that Central Wasatch is forecast to receive leaves the problem hanging, we did not see any natural activity mid elevation or off steeper terrain at Bluebell.

Snow Profile

Aspect

West

Elevation

9,000'

Slope Angle

30°