Observation: Salt Lake

Observation Date

2/22/2025

Observer Name

Talty, Dunphey

Region

Salt Lake

Location Name or Route

Oquirrh Mountains

Weather

Sky

Few

Wind Speed

Calm

Weather Comments

Warm sunny day with calm winds. High-elevation clouds rolled in around noon and increased throughout the afternoon.

Snow Characteristics

Snow Surface Conditions

Powder

Red Flags

Collapsing

Poor Snowpack Structure

Red Flags Comments

Collapses were felt all along our tour above 7300'.

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

Persistent Weak Layer

Trend

Same

Problem #1 Comments

In the southern portion of the Oquirrh range, loose faceted snow can be found on pretty much any slope holding snow. In deeper areas near treeline, these weak facets were capped by recent snow from the past few weeks. Above treeline, winds have left a shallow snowpack with weak snow underlying old wind slabs. All this zone needs is a connected slab to light up (the central part of the range seems to be holding more snow, and likely much more sensitive).

Comments

Went to the southern Oquirrh's today to check out their snowpack. We traveled up to 8800 feet on NW-N-E facing slopes and found poor structure on pretty much every slope holding snow. We began to observe loud, audible collapses above 7300' in flat meadows and on NW-N-E facing aspects. We observed one recent avalanche on Bald Mountain at 10,000' on a SE aspect that ran over the summer road (picture below). In this section of the range, the recent February snow has begun to slab up and is resting on top of weak, early-season facets. This structure is most pronounced near treeline, where the snowpack was the deepest. Snow depths seemed to have just recently covered up most of the vegetation in this part of the range, and with additional loading, I don't trust this setup.

Pictures

1: Avalanche on Bald Mountain (SE 10,000')

2: Structure in a flat meadow at 7500'

3. Structure on an Eastern aspect at 8200'

4. Structure on a Northern aspect at 8200' w/ snowpit photo

5: Coverage on western aspects

6: Coverage on south-western aspects

7: Valley view