Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center

US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good Morning! This is Evan Stevens with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Wednesday, January 28th, 2004 at 8:00am.

February 7^th through 9^th is our Level 1 avalanche course. Call 259-7155 to register.

Click here for recent photos. Click here for Snowpits. You can always email us observations as well by clicking here, or sending a message to [email protected] or [email protected] .

General Conditions:

Temperatures have remained cold keeping Sunday’s new snow cold and fun, with a bit of settlement. There may be some slight zipper crusts on southerly aspects, but expect some enjoyable powder in the shade. The Geyser Pass Road is fully buffed out right now by the state parks snow cat, so skate skiing has never been better in the La Sal’s! Currently it is 18.5 degrees at the trailhead with 40” of snow on the ground, and 11 degrees in the alpine with light winds out of the NW; there is about 53” of snow on the ground in Gold Basin.

Mountain Weather:

The unsettled weather pattern will stay with us for a few days…today and tomorrow look for below freezing high temps, light winds and small chances for snow showers. Friday night is our best chance at a more significant storm.

Avalanche Conditions:

The instabilities at the interface of our new and old snow are still quite present out there. The time for natural avalanches has come and gone, and now the weight of a backcountry traveler is the necessary ingredient to tip the scales out there and start some avalanches. I would still play it cautiously out there, avoiding the steep and wind loaded terrain. The bottom line is a MODERATE avalanche danger with pockets of CONSIDERABLE on any wind loaded slopes at and above treeline on slopes steeper than 35 degrees.