Observation Date
1/17/2023
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Gold Hill
Location Name or Route
Gold Hill
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Broken skies this morning with a little bit of filtered sunshine till mid-afternoon then mostly cloudy and light snow showers with little accumulation.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
10"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Just a couple of inches at the trailhead, but in Gold Hill there was anywhere from 6-10" of nice medium density snow that continues to add to an already amazing deep snow pack. The riding and turning is very good and moving around the area is quite easy.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
Possibly some minor wind loading with todays light south and southeast winds, but I did not observe any glaring red flags where I traveled.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Yesterdays southeast winds loaded some west facing slopes, but things seemed to have settled out as I did not find any reactive wind drifted snow. Up along the Gold Hill ridge line the recent wind drifted snow would just crack and sluff with no real issues.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
I dug a quick pit in the Gold Hill area and there was 220cm of total snow which is just amazing. I did not dig down to the ground and look for the November weak layer as it is well buried right now in this location.
Comments
A nice deep snow pack in the Gold Hill area.
Pretty quiet day in the backcountry with light to calm winds not moving much snow around, no recent avalanches, several inches of new snow and a deep snow pack.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
Coordinates
