Observation Date
12/20/2016
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Gold Hill
Location Name or Route
Gold Hill Basin
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Mild day with pleasant temperatures, a few clouds and light southwest winds untill mid afternoon, when the wind speeds picked up.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
The current conditions in the Gold Hill area remain quite good with very supportable riding and nice dense settled powder. This is a great early season snowpack and the coverage is pretty solid. Even I feel like I can sled around with these conditions. Some slopes were getting a little damp, but no wet issues in my travels.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
I observed some minor wind drifting just off the ridge lines, mainly on east through southeast facing slopes. There are however, some hard wind slabs that have been forming with the steady winds the past couple days. These are hollow sounding and have been connecting larger pieces of snow.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The winds were a little lighter today through about early afternoon, but the speeds picked up a bit later in the day. There have been just enough steady winds the last couple of days out of the southwest to create some hard wind slabs along the northeast through southeast facing slopes. These are starting to connect larger pieces of snow and once triggered could result in a decent size avalanche.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Digging around the Gold Hill area, I was finding a mostly stable snowpack with just some minor shovel shears in the middle of the pack, but nothing propagated a crack.
Comments
A nice fairly deep snowpack for the Gold Hill area this time of of year. In this pit, it was right side up snow with increasing hand hardness, with just a few thin layers of lighter density weaker snow.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
