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Observation Date
1/14/2017
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin, Mark Nelson
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Whitney Basin
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin, Double Hill, Moffit Peak
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Beautiful day in the Uintas with a nice cool morning, mild day time temperatures and surprisely no wind on the higher ridge lines.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
2"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
All the new snow has settled out nicely making for fun and supportable riding and turning. There is great powder conditions and folks were out in large numbers enjoying this remarkable storm for the western Uintas.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Red Flags Comments
Some natural avalanches that likely occurred during the intense snow and wind event were the only red flags we observed.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The conditions today felt mostly stable, although we did not pull the dog's tail too much and venture into steep terrain. There is great riding and turning on low angle slopes and meadow skipping. Looking around at the numerous old crowns, the possibility of triggering a slide that breaks into some of the weak layers is still possible in areas with shallow weak snow.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
Any wind slabs that I stomped on were hesitant to move and needed a fair amount of effort to get something to crack out. In more steep and exposed terrain there could be some lingering wind slabs that are more sensitive to a person's weight.
Comments
1. Riders were enjoying the deep and supportable snow conditions. 2. It has been awhile where a person has to walk down into the Whitney Warming Hut.
Some minor surface sluffing is all the results I could get from breaking out some wind slabs on this northeast side of Double Hill.
These are photos of some of the crowns on the northwest, north and east sides of Moffit Peak. Interesting that some of these are well down the slope and likely in areas where there is a shallow rocky and weak snowpack.
Felt like the hazard was mostly moderate today, but taking into account all the recent avalanche activity and where these avalanche crowns are, there is still a good possibility that in steep shallow rocky areas a large and deep slide could easily be triggered.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate