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Logan
Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
It’s getting
easier to travel through last weekend’s stack of new snow, and folks are
starting to get out into some steeper terrain without incident. Yesterday we
found good floaty powder conditions on all aspects, but I expect to find some
sun damage on south facing slopes today.
I found out that it’s still easy to get the sled stuck in deep snow if you
get off the beaten path, especially at lower and mid elevations where, if you
loose momentum, you can dig your track down into bottomless snow after floating
on a midpack stiffness. It’s a balmy 30
degrees this morning at the Campbell Scientific weather station atop Logan Peak,
and a south wind picked up overnight, now averaging close to 30 mph. There’s
53 inches of total snow on the ground containing just under 10 inches of
equivelent water at the Tony Grove Snotel, which is 68% of average for the
date.
Avalanche
Conditions:
Yesterday’s clearing pulled the
cloudy veil off the upper elevations, and we could finally see evidence of the
weekend’s natural activity. While little
activity was observed in the
My biggest concern is the lingering
possibility of deeper slab avalanches in some areas, which will be quite
destructive and potentially deadly. The danger lies on slopes that didn’t
avalanche during the storm and are now hanging in a delicate balance….Trigger
size appears to be the issue, with large triggers like explosives or snowmobiles
still able to initiate large avalanches, while smaller triggers like
backcountry skiers or snowboarders seemingly aren’t heavy enough to do the
trick. In most cases, your weight alone
probably won’t be enough to trigger one of these deep dwelling monsters, but
you might awaken one from a thin spot on the slab. Watch out for steep rocky
areas and slopes with generally shallow snowcover. Pay attention to obvious signs of instability
like recent avalanches on similar slopes, collapsing or woomphing
noises, cracking, or hollow sounding snow, and be willing to reassess your
route.
A south wind picked up overnight
and will intensify over the next few days.
Today you might find some fresh wind slabs that are sensitive to your weight.
These chalky looking and hollow sounding drifts should be pretty obvious and as
always, you should avoid them on steep slopes.
Bottom Line:
Today there’s a MODERATE danger on steep wind drifted slopes
at mid and upper elevations in the backcountry.
Dangerously large triggered hard slab avalanches are possible on some shady
upper elevation slopes that had early season snowcover. Triggered wind slab avalanches are also
possible in terrain exposed to drifting from southerly winds. Using good snow assessment and safe travel
techniques will minimize today’s risks.
Mountain Weather:
The high pressure ridge will begin
to move eastward out of the region today, and south winds will increase. The
winds should scour the haze from
General Information:
I will give a free avalanche
awareness talk for teens and their families at the
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
I'm very interested to know what
you're seeing out there. Please e-mail observations to me at [email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638,
especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry. We keep all
observations confidential.
This advisory will expire in 24
hours from the posting time.
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.
