Introduction:
Good Morning this is Max Forgensi with the THE AIARE LEVEL 1 IS CURRENTLY BEING TAUGHT IN THE LA
SAL MOUNTAINS WITH 12 STUDENTS.
THE LEVEL 2 STILL HAS 4 OPENINGS LEFT. PLEASE CALL (435) 636-3363 FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO
SIGN UP. 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. Hey
backcountry users! Click HERE
to give us your observations…ANY OBSERVATIONS! We have only received ONE observation from
backcountry users in the La Sals, while up on the Skyline we get a couple
every week…shape up! |
General Conditions: Today is
going to be a beautiful day to go out and enjoy the La Sal Mountains. 2”-4” has fallen in the past 48 hours
up in the mountains, making sheltered slopes an enjoyable place to go and
find some powder. Friday nights
wind did effect the snow conditions on any open slope and every aspect. Wind slabs of 1”-3” thick will be
found below tree-line, while above tree-line wind slabs are 1’-2’ thick. They are everywhere…cross-loaded
slopes, wind-loaded slopes and not a natural avalanche to report. Read on to the avalanche
conditions to find out more. The road
to the Geyser Pass Trailhead was plowed to perfection yesterday and the skate
skiing conditions to Geyser Pass will be superb due to Tag-a-Long tours making
a pass up to the Tomasaki hut. Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)
Today: Partly cloudy, with a high near 41. Breezy, with a
southwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. |
Weather Station/ Location |
Snow Depth (HS):
in./cm |
New Snow (HN) in./cm |
6:00 a.m. Temp (F) |
Current Observations:
Wind, 48 hour snow |
30’’/75 cm |
0” |
19 |
2” in past 48 hours |
|
Geyser Pass |
52”/130 cm |
n/a |
N/a |
~ |
|
44”/110cm |
0” |
N/a |
4” in past 48 hours |
N/a |
N/a |
~ |
Needs a new
battery |
Avalanche Conditions: (Link to the
International Avalanche Danger Scale here) With the new snow and strong
winds that came out of the North, the wind affected every open area in the La
Sal mountains two nights ago.
There is a tessellated wind slab pattern everywhere on the mountains…if
it isn’t cross-loaded, the starting zones on leeward slopes are loaded. In
some places the wind affected the slopes in more ways than one. It is a bit unnerving that we haven’t
had a large natural avalanche cycle yet. We know that on most Northerly and Easterly aspect the
snow contains mature depth hoar crystals, the snow hasn’t received enough new
stress to tip towards failure.
What it is going to take is either a significant snowfall with some wind,
or a human trigger. Remember
though, depth hoar crystals are very persistent crystals and they just don’t
disappear naturally in the mid-winter in a shallow continental snow
pack. This season has many
similarities to the winter of 1991-1992 in which we lost 4 citizens of the
Moab community in an avalanche accident. Lets learn from past mistakes and not let history repeat
itself this time. The BOTTOM LINE for today will be a avalanche danger of CONSIDERABLE on steep, wind drifted and cross-loaded slopes on NW-N-NE-E
aspects. Remote triggering an
avalanche is a definite possibility…stay away from the deposition zones of
avalanche paths. The rest of the
range will be MODERATE. Have fun with all the new snow and
thanks for checking in. Take a look at a snowpit from our tour
on 01/15/06 here. |