Check out our Holiday Auction - Sign Up for the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW)
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 Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills On-Snow Courses Resources and Tutorials
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: Wolverine

Observation Date
2/13/2023
Observer Name
Kelly
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Wolverine
Location Name or Route
Upper Little Cottonwood Canyon
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Winds picked up above 10,000' clear skies with only high clouds on the horizon over the Uinta Mountains.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Travel was on all aspects North-East-South-West above 9100'. I found a mixed bag of snow conditions:
  • Wind-scoured reversed rider tracked (steep northwest facing)
  • Pencil hard wind-drifted with small grain facets on the surface (ridgestops)
  • Soft .5mm recrystalized surface snow (low angle north and northwest) there was not enough faceting on surface for dry-loose conditions
  • Refrozen melt freeze crust (south and west)
  • Refrozen avalanche debris with rollerballs (assorted solar aspects)
Comments
Great day for an around the compass ridge walk. Best skiing to be had on low angle slopes and on firm wind-drifted ridgetops that were supportable and edgable. Lots of signs of previous wet loose activity on solar aspects and previous wind-loading and scouring in the high alpine.
Photo 1- North facing terrain
Photo 2- Northwest facing terrain
Photo 3- Wind-drifted ridgetops with small near surface facets
Photo 4- Re-frozen rollerballs on west facing terrain
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates