There is currently a LOW avalanche danger in the backcountry. The danger will begin to rise with any accumulating snowfall this weekend, and I expect heightened avalanche conditions with continued stormy weather early next week.

At least lack of snow is keeping forest visitor numbers down, and you can definitely find solitude in the backcountry these days. You'll also find a wide variety of wind sculpted and tracked old snow surfaces, especially on the popular smooth north facing slopes south of Tony Grove Lake. Snow cover is limited to north facing upper elevation slopes, and hitting rocks or other shallowly buried obstacles probably still presents the largest safety concern....

There's just not enough snow for backcountry riding, and you pretty much have to stay on snow covered upper elevation roadways. Remember to slow down and watch out for pedestrians, especially in congested areas like Tony Grove.

Just before Thanksgiving, I triggered a fairly large wind slab avalanche from the ridge in the West Tony Grove Area. We'll have to worry about similar activity when inevitable snowfall and wind build a slab on top of the widespread weak and sugary snow now covering upper elevation shady slopes.

click :avalanche report

Finally, the weather pattern is changing. The first wave of storminess will come in the form of a cold front dropping south out of Western Canada, affecting our area late tonight or early Saturday with modest to light snowfall. Another wave of wet Pacific weather will impact mainly Southern Utah on Sunday. Expect a developing pattern of storms and continued moist and unsettled weather throughout the upcoming week with warmer temperatures and a good chance for significant snow accumulations in the mountains.

We will be issuing intermittent avalanche advisories as conditions warrant. I'll begin to issue regular advisories later in December and when the winter season really gets rolling....

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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.