Introduction: Good
Morning! This is Evan Stevens with the
USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather
advisory. Today is Sunday, February 8th,
2004 at 7:30 am.
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General Conditions:
Blustery and cold weather out there makes me say that today is a
day for the sheltered areas. You can
still find lots of great powder to ski and ride on most aspects, as long as the
wind hasn’t reached them. A few inches
of new snow overnight and lots of sustained winds from the WSW will allow for
lots of old tracks to be filled in.
Currently it is 0 degrees at 11,700’, 11 degrees at 9,500’ and the winds
are now blowing out of the NW in the teens.
Snow depths range from 46” at the trailhead to 70” in Gold Basin. The road will not be plowed today, so 4WD
and chains are recommended.
Mountain Weather:
The weather has been a little colder and windier than
anticipated. Snow showers should linger
around for the first part of the day, with highs around 20 and WNW winds in the
teens. Tonight, skies will be partly
cloudy, with lows in the single digits and NNW winds at 11-14mph. Tomorrow, temps warm up a little bit with
highs in the upper 20’s and a NNE wind in the teens.
Avalanche Conditions:
Touchy conditions continue to
linger from our buried January weak layers-in some places just old
sugary near surface facets, and in other lower elevation areas it is feathery
weak surface hoar on top of sugary depth hoar.
The last few storms have planted themselves on top of theses layers, and
in some locations the weight is being piled on and barely adjusted to by the
snow pack. We did see a bit of natural
avalanche activity on steep NE-NW aspects above 10,500’ in our last storm, but
since then the winds have replenished a fairly sizeable load in many
locations. Essentially there is a lot
to think about out there depending on your aspect and elevation. At and above treeline, the main concerns are
slopes that have not avalanched recently and places that are newly wind loaded-the
danger in these locations on slopes steeper than 35 degrees is CONSIDERABLE.
Below treeline, especially below 10,000’, the danger is confined to open
avalanche terrain and terrain traps, where the weak January snow resides in
abundance-in these locations there is a CONSIDERABLE danger as
well. I would watch my slope angles and
avoid wind loaded terrain on a day like today.
Remember a CONSIDERABLE danger means
human triggered avalanches are PROBABLE and natural avalanches are
possible.
Nordic and Skate Skiing: The Tag-a-Long
snow cat was out and back to Tomasaki hut on Thursday-yesterday a bunch of
snowmobiles packed out the road as well.