Observation: Silver Fork

Observation Date

2/23/2017

Observer Name

JRobertson

Region

Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork

Location Name or Route

Silver Fork

Weather

Sky

Obscured

Precipitation

Moderate Snowfall

Wind Direction

Northwest

Wind Speed

Light

Weather Comments

Light to moderate snowfall from about noon to 5 pm when we exited. Drive down BCC was slow due to sustained 1/hr snowfall. Where we traveled, wind speeds along ridge lines were gusty and hadn't formed reactive cornices or winds slabs. Nice to have cold temps again.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth

12"

New Snow Density

Low

Snow Surface Conditions

Powder

Snow Characteristics Comments

Storm total at 9600' was about ~25" and ~12" in the drainage bottom. Noted some deeper density changes that would keep even wider boards down and contributed to the deeeep feeling the snow had today.

Red Flags

Heavy Snowfall

Wind Loading

Red Flags Comments

I didn't see evidence of a natural cycle but we started a bit later and stuck to a scoured ridge line for the up. Kicked a few small winddrifty cornices with minimal results. The generally right side up snow needed steeper angles to run free. Skiing over a few small rollovers, the snow would pile up in front of me, gain a bit of speed, and then slow to let me pass. Sloughs at 30 to 35 degrees moved slower than a skier could. NW winds were slabbing up snow directly on ridgelines making trail breaking annoying but not terrible. On scoured faces, we could feel the old snow surface but it was easy enough to get a ski into to establish the skin track.

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

New Snow

Trend

Same

Problem #1 Comments

There's enough snow out there that in steeper terrain, I could see sloughs being a problem. Definitely powerful enough to knock you off your feet and bury you deep enough you'd need help extricating yourself. We avoided terrain traps down but utilized small steep gully walls as test slopes with minimal results.

Avalanche Problem #2

Problem

New Snow

Trend

Decreasing Danger

Problem #2 Comments

In isolated areas where we traveled, one might've been able to tickle something out but for the most part the generally right side up storm snow was well behaved. In steeper terrain where sloughs might be able to run longer and entrain more snow, lower density changes might've come into play but we didn't venture into such terrain.

Today's Observed Danger Rating

Considerable

Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating

Considerable

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