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 Easter Sunday, March 27^th, 2005 at 7:30 am. This bulletin is sponsored in part by Poison Spider, Moab’s finest bike shop, proud sponsors of the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

THERE WILL BE AN OUTDOOR GEAR SWAP TO BENEFIT THE MANTI-LA SAL AVALANCHE CENTER ON SATURDAY, APRIL 2^ND. GEAR CHECK WILL BE AT 8 AM, SALE STARTS AT 10 AM. IT WILL BE HELD AT UP THE CREEK CAMPGROUND, 210E. 300S.

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:

Well March has kicked in this last week giving us storm totals of close to 3 feet since last Sunday. About a foot of new snow on Friday night has left the local roads a mess, and travel above 8,500’ on the Geyser Pass road was impossible due to drifting-the road crew should be out tomorrow, but for now you are forced to park low on the road, with decent access to the Trans-La Sal Trailhead. Trail breaking conditions were might tough, so recruit your strongest friends. South faces have already been hammered by the sun and are heavy and/or crusty. Truly sheltered north facing slopes are providing some deep, albeit slow powder turns, so wax your skis and find some steep and safe slopes to make good turns. 4WD and chains are recommended to make it on the road today.

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 56” at the SNOTEL, it is 19 degrees at the TH at 6:00 am. No new snow in the last 24 hours, 11” in the last 48 hours.

Pre-Laurel Peak (11,700’): still trying to fix it!

Gold Basin and South Mountain: 100” of settled snow on the ground.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: Partly cloudy, with a high near 36. West southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 24. Breezy, with a west southwest wind between 15 and 25 mph.
Monday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. Windy, with a west southwest wind between 25 and 35 mph.

Avalanche Conditions:

The La Sal mountains have been hammered with close to 3 feet of snow in the last week, and it hasn’t been light and fluffy. No matter how you put it, this is a huge load that is sitting on top of a faceted and weak old snow surface from a week ago, and deep and dangerous avalanches are going to be triggered easily. Yesterday I felt as though I was constantly looking over my shoulder and at my feet to see how big the shooting cracks were on slopes around 30 degrees. We were able to trigger 1 avalanche intentionally on a 35 degree NNW facing slope at 11,000’. This slide had close to a 3-foot crown failing on the old snow surface and was about 50 feet wide running for quite a way through some thick trees. This avalanche is indicative of what is going on out there in the mountains-as some folks might say the pucker factor is quite high. Although yesterdays calm and warm weather has mellowed things out a bit, this large loads are still going to be cranky and reactive so pay attention today and watch your slope angles and the slopes above you. The other concern is the warming trend, which may bring about significant avalanche activity on S-SW aspects as the day heats up. The bottom line for today is an avalanche danger of MODERATE, rising to CONSIDERABLE on all slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Remember that human triggered avalanches are quite possible today and natural avalanches may be possible as the mercury rises.