US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good morning, this is Dave Medara with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Friday, March 24th at 8am. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

The Lasaloppet, an 18-k Nordic race in the La Sal Mountains, is scheduled for Saturday, March 25^th, 2006. Please call McKay Edwards at (801) 588-0911 or [email protected] form more information. CHECK OUT OUR NEW GROOMING EQUIPMENT HERE.

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.

Please give us your observations from the field HERE. The more observations we get, the better this forecast can be.

General Conditions:

While our instruments only measured .2” of water this week and our lower elevation snowboards showed less than 2 inches of new snow, we were pleasantly surprised to find 3-6 inches of snow above 10,000 feet and some excellent skiing on a northerly slope in Gold Basin. The new snow has been loaded onto these northerly slopes from a decent wind event at the end of Tuesday’s snow. South facing slopes have supportable crusts on them, offering up excellent corn snow to the early riser. East and West facing slopes are not very supportable yet and there is some challenging breakable crust out there too. The Spring Fling is starting, the snowpack is stabilizing and the ski game is on. With the new grooming equipment. The Skate skiing is EXCELLENT! The road to the Geyser Pass Trailhead is muddy but mostly clear of snow. It can be challenging for 2wd late in the day.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’) –

Today: Partly cloudy, with a high around 34. South southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 21. South southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 46. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to between 20 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low near 26. Windy, with a south southwest wind between 20 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Breezy, with a west northwest wind between 15 and 25 mph.

Weather Station/ Location	Snow Depth (HS): in./cm	New Snow (HN) in./cm	8:00 a.m. Temp (F)	Current Observations: Wind, 48 hour snow
Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): (snotel link)	37”	trace	26	1” new
Geyser Pass	85” est	3-6”	N/a	3-6 “ new this week
Gold Basin and South Mountain	63” /160 cm	5cm/ 2”	n/a	5cm/2” this week
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	N/a	N/a	19 degrees @ 0700	Light Southwesterly

Avalanche Conditions: (Link to the International Avalanche Danger Scale here) –

The new snow from this week is a small cause for concern, and the new snow, combined with winds from the south 72-48 hours ago has resulted in widespread class one sluffing and a small class two slab from the north face of Mt. Tukunikuvatz. The instability from the new snow has run it’s course and the tests on the snow that we did yesterday revealed the strongest snowpack we’ve seen all season to this point. Very encouraging to say the least. The basal layers (lowest layers) of the snowpack still show some weaker layers, but even these have gained a lot of strength in the last two weeks. We found no significant shears in the snowpack, and as a result we are TENATIVELY lowering our Avalanche danger rating to MODERATE on all slopes in the La Sal mountains steeper than 30 degrees. Expect to find a LOW avalanche danger on South facing slopes that will increase to MODERATE as the heat of the day sets in. Get off solar slopes when you start to punch through the crust and note that the La Sal mountains have been very reactive to afternoon heating the last couple of days. Things are good out there right now. Have FUN!!