US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good morning! This is Max Forgensi with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Sunday, November 27th at 8:20 a.m. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

Mark your calendars! On Monday, December 5^th at the Grand County SAR shed, the Winter Search and Rescue team will be hosting a ski swap from 6-8 p.m. Bring any winter gear that you want to swap and your checkbook. 10% of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center.

It will be held across from the M.A.R.C. at the SAR shed. See you there!

I would like to announce to everyone that a new avalanche forecaster has been hired to replace Evan Stevens, who moved up to British Columbia. The new avalanche forecaster for the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center is Dave Medara. Dave has worked for the MLSAC in some sort of fashion since 1992. He will begin work starting on December 19^th. Welcome back Dave!

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:

Ahhh, the Red Rock Desert. One thinks of Windgate sandstone, the Colorado River and the Slickrock bike trail, a place to escape the snows of the Rocky Mountains. Well, for some people this place is where they make their turns and ride their snowmobiles. Some seasons, these people might wonder why they ski here, especially in the early season. Yesterdays 2” of snow at 9,600’ was just a nasty trick, just enough to entice some people (read: me) to take their skis out and give them a quality red stone grinding. Don’t worry everyone, we’ll have ours, just be a little more patient and enjoy the rest of the recreation possibilities that surround us here in Southeast Utah.

For those adventurous souls out there that need a winter fix, there is enough snow on the Geyser Pass road to do some skinny skiing and conditions will be prime to break some trail through some light cold powder. Sounds like fun!

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 2” at the SNOTEL. 9 degrees at the trailhead at 7:00 a.m.

Gold Basin and South Mountain: 12” of settled snow on the ground.

Pre-Laurel Peak Weather Station (11,705’): The weather station is getting a facelift; new radios, antennas and all the instrumentation has been recalibrated. You can thank the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center for this one. Expect the weather station to be up and running in early December.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Rest Of Today...Widespread snow this morning...Then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Windy. New snow accumulation around one inch. Highs 15 to 25. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 60 percent.
Tonight...Partly cloudy. Breezy. Lows 5 below zero to 5 above. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 40 mph.
Monday...Mostly sunny. Highs in the 20s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.

Avalanche Conditions:

A cold, shallow snow pack is what we have up in the La Sal’s currently. 2” of snow down at the trailhead could mean 6” up near Geyser Pass. Moderate, snow-transporting winds were in the forecast, meaning wind-loaded slopes with 10-16” soft slabs might be found at or above treeline. The winds have been out of the Northwest, so Southeast slopes will be getting most of the wind-loading, and these slopes had little to no snow on them before this system. The weakest snow pack will still be found on North facing aspects above or just below treeline. Those well developed depth-hoar facets will be haunting us for quite some time I expect this season. The Bottom line for today is going to be MODERATE on steep slopes above and just below treeline on Northerly aspects. Continental snow pack anyone?