Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
Frigid temperatures in the
mountains are keeping the powder conditions good, but we’re still horribly limited
by lack of snow. I managed to do more substantial
damage to my ski bases twice yesterday when I squarely hit completely invisible
but only shallowly buried rocks. The
best turning conditions can be found on the mostly tracked-out north facing
grassy slopes south of Tony Grove Lake, while riding is limited to roads and
upper elevation meadows It’s a
bone-chilling 6 degrees this morning at the CSI weather station at 9400’ on
Logan Peak, and the wind is from the northwest at around 20 mph. There’s only
22 inches of total snow on the ground at the Tony Grove Snotel containing a piddley 3 inches of water; only 34% of average for the date.
It’s a good idea in the early season to practice
with all your rescue equipment. I recommend
putting a transmitting beacon in your pack and burying it for you partners to
find using their probes. Now is a good
time to work out any bugs in your party’s rescue preparedness.
Avalanche
Conditions:
Ski-cuts in the backcountry and explosive
control work at ski areas in the
I’m still concerned by the
possibility of persistent slab avalanches. This problem is limited to upper
elevation shady slopes that had snowcover before Thanksgiving. Many slopes are plagued
by large grained depth hoar to the ground, while others sport crust-facet
sandwiches with crusts varying in strength and thin very weak layers made up of
sugary snow above and in between them. The slab depths where I dug test pits
yesterday were in the 16 to 20” range.
Watch for obvious signs of
instability like collapsing or woomphing noises,
hollow sounding drifts, and shooting cracks.
Reassess your route if any of these signs of unstable snow are present.
Bottom Line:
The danger is MODERATE
on upper elevation north facing slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Dangerous human triggered avalanches are possible
on slopes with weak preexisting snow.
Mountain Weather:
Very cold temperatures will
persist over the region today and a flat ridge will begin to move eastward as an
active weather pattern continues. A cold
front will move southward over the region tomorrow and tomorrow night bringing
a chance for several inches of snow in the mountains. Expect showery conditions
on Friday and another somewhat dry storm will affect mainly the
General Information:
The 4th Annual Pray
for Snow Fundraiser/Party Friday night was a big success! Thanks for showing your support.
Check out photos of avalanches in the Logan Area on our images page.
Go to the Avalanche
Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in
the advisory
Please e-mail backcountry observations to me at
[email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638.
The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest
Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory
describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.