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Observation: Aspen Grove

Observation Date
3/15/2024
Observer Name
Kelly/Woody/Jolley/Davis
Region
Provo » Provo Canyon » North Fork Provo R. » Aspen Grove
Location Name or Route
Aspen Grove
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Winds were blowing from the south east strong gusting to extreme at the 11,000' ridgelines and steady strong at lower elevations. There was new wind transport noted on the ridge-lines from southeast winds loading snow onto the west facing slopes. No new precipitation noted.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Wind Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snow surface was wind-cooled damp. Out of the wind-zone in the sun the snow surface was moist and quite easy to make a snowball. In the windzone it was cooler and on the north facing slopes it was still dry snow.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
We observed a wind drifted snow avalanche on a west facing slopes at 11,000' (photo below) and a dry loose avalanche in a north facing gully at 7400' (see video bottom of observation). There was current wind-loading occurring and wind-loading that had occurred over the past week. Ridge-lines, gully features and terrain features at all elevations had wind loading.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Photo of wind-drifted snow avalanche west facing slope 11,000'
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #2 Comments
Wet snow was held at bay today from high winds. We saw some wet loose rollerballs at lower elevations out of the wind zone on a southeast facing slope at 7,800'
Snow Profile
Aspect
East
Elevation
8,600'
Slope Angle
37°
Comments
Overall a very solid snowpack in this location with moist rounding facets near the ground. Weakest layer was 10" (25cm) from the surface and did not propagate with an extended column test.
The video (Woody) below shows a natural dry loose avalanche as viewed from the Aspen Grove parking lot yesterday around 1000am.
Video
Where we traveled today the avalanche danger was moderate. We avoided steep ridge-lines with the most wind transport and did not run into any wet loose snow problems because the wind kept this problem at bay today. Higher elevation steeper terrain with more wind-loading would have a higher avalanche danger but out of the wind zone was a different story.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
Coordinates