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 Thursday, December 30th, 2004 at 7:30 a.m.

To see past advisories check out the ARCHIVE. To see current conditions go to our WEATHER PAGE. To see photos go to the AVIPHOTOS page.

General Conditions:

The freight train came barreling through the La Sal’s yesterday, leaving in its wake downed trees, wind slabs at all elevations and exposures (including deep into the trees) and not much new snow. New snow accumulations were tough to pin down out there as the winds literally hammered everything, but it is around 3-7” of heavy, wind effected snow. Trail breaking conditions can be a bit tough as ski tips and snowshoes can get caught under the surface slab.

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 23” of snow on the ground and 22 degrees.

Pre-Laurel Peak (11,700’): 24 degrees, and the winds are averaging 39 mph out of the S-SW with gusts as high as the 70’s!

Gold Basin has about 36” of settled snow on the ground.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: A 30 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.
Tonight: A 50 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. Wind chill values between -9 and 1. Breezy, with a south southwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 19. Wind chill values between -1 and -11. Windy, with a south wind between 25 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph.

Avalanche Conditions:

With about a half foot of new heavy snow and strong winds at all elevations, you can easily guess that there will be an abundance of easily triggered hard and soft slabs out there. Although with limited new snow, the depths of these slabs will be in the 1-2’ range it is still plenty deep enough to bury you or slam you into some rocks or trees. A key point to think about today is that although the La Sal Mountains are a windy place, the last 24 hours of winds have been unusually strong, so as a result expect to see some unusual loading patterns in unlikely places. In low and mid elevation areas the snowpack is dominated by weak and sugary faceted snow, which is now barely supporting the small to medium sized heavy wind slab on top of it. And, as the day wears on we will see the additional inch or two of accumulation with continued strong winds. This all boils down to an overall avalanche danger of CONSIDERABLE on all aspects on terrain steeper than 35 degrees, including small pockets in the trees and other unlikely/unusual locations. Keep your avalanche mindset on task today, and continue evaluate nature’s signs such as cracking and collapsing of the snow to clue you in to the danger.

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

Tough conditions out there until some sleds can break some trail, or maybe you like to get a good trailbreaking workout?