Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center

US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good Afternoon! This is Max Forgensi with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 at 7:30 am. This bulletin is sponsored in part by Moab Desert Adventures, the professional rock climbing guide service of Moab, proud sponsors of the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center. This advisory will expire in 24 hours and should be updated Wednesday morning.

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:

There is another AVALANCHE WARNING in effect for our region until 12 noon, which includes the La Sal and Abajo Mountains. Very strong winds, new snow will raise the avalanche danger to HIGH for today. Travel in or underneath avalanche terrain is not recommended. The La Sals have received 4.5” in the past 24 hours with a 37” base at the Geyser Pass SNOTEL site. The Abajo mountains have received another 7 inches of snow and have 67” of snow on the ground.

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 37” at the SNOTEL site with a temperature of 29.5 degrees at 7:00 am.

Pre-Laurel Peak (11,700’): The weather station is down due to riming, again, and will be up to fix the problem today.

Gold Basin and South Mountain: Around 60” to 70” of settled snow on the ground.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: Winter Storm Warning is in affect until 6:00 a.m. Wednesday. Avalanche Warning will expire at 12 noon. Periods of snow. High near 31. Windy. Winds will be out of the Southwest at 35-45 with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. 3-5” of snow is expected today.

Tonight: Periods of snow. Low near 12. Wind chill values of –6 to 1 is expected. Winds will be veering to the west at 25-35 mph, gusting to 45. Chance of precipitation is 90%. 4-8” of additional snow is expected.

Avalanche Conditions

The storms just keep on rolling through, and it appears that a break in the weather will occur starting Thursday. This past week’s new light density snow has been transported into deep hard slabs. Now the La Sals have additional snow to blow into new wind slabs, the questions are these: Will the new snow bond to the recently deposited (3 days ago) warm wind slabs? And will it be enough load to produce widespread avalanches? Remember, there is an AVALANCHE WARNING in effect, so travel is not recommend on or near avalanche terrain, which we classify as slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Right now the avalanche danger is a HIGH danger on steep, wind-loaded slopes at and above treeline. Watch your slope angles and travel is not recommended below the run-out zones of avalanche paths. I am expecting avalanche activity on all slopes and at all aspects and elevations, please stay conservative today.

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

There is a narrow skate track on the Geyser Pass road right now, but the winds and new snow will fill it in.