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: Salt Lake

Observation Date
12/6/2015
Observer Name
Elliott
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
East Coulior on Lake Peak
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Were able to crack many wind slab on north facing features along the road on Red Baldy. Most were a pretty thin skin (few inches), many were old and stubborn, a couple propagated across a slope (~15 feet) and were as deep as 6 inches. These were isolated but were concerning as we headed to Lake Peak.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Cracking
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Comments
Went to ski off of Lake Peak today and was taken aback by some of the wind slabs. I thought that I'd submit this as it seemed very different from what I've read on other obs. This the first time that I've submitted something. Sorry for no photos. The East side of lake peak was a mix of old wind slabs, facets, and thin sun crusts. The wind slabs were all cross loading from a rib on the South side (looks left). We carefully made our way up staying off the slabs and on the sun crust until we got into the chute proper. On the descent, the cross-loading didn't seem to want to do anything but we didn't poke that hard. Maybe we were just spooked by the earlier cracking that we saw.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate