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 Monday, February 26th, at 8:00 AM. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

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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.

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General Conditions:

Continued stormy weather through the day yesterday has kept the sun at bay and conditions are still dry powder out here in the La Sal Mountains. There is some excellent skiing and riding out there at the moment. We’ve seen some stuck snow machines and hard walking conditions with the deep snow that has accumulated so far. Expect this pattern to continue with only a slight break in the action today.

The road to the Geyser Pass Trailhead will be snowy and 4wd is recommended today. GC roads should get up there sometime today.

Grooming was done yesterday up and over Geyser Pass. Expect “powder skating” or classic skiing with last nights 1-2” of new snow.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: A 40 percent chance of snow before 11am. Partly cloudy, with a high near 27. West southwest wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow after 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 19. Breezy, with a southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to between 20 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph.
Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly after 11am. Increasing clouds, with a high near 28. Breezy, with a west southwest wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph.
Tuesday Night: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 5. Breezy, with a north northwest wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to between 5 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Weather Station/ Location	Snow Depth (HS): in./cm	New Snow (HN) in./cm	7:00 a.m. Temp (F)	Current Observations: Wind, 48 hour snow
Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): (snotel link)	31”	7”	21.3	Powder
Geyser Pass	55”	11”	N/a	Facets, powder
Gold Basin and South Mountain	51”	11”	n/a	Facets, Powder
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	N/a	N/a	13	Wx Down, MOD SW winds 15 -30 mph

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

Went for a quick tour of the Laurel Highway yesterday and saw a bit less activity than we expected with all the new snow. The SW winds were at work however and already starting to slab up the new snow. We saw some small slab activity on a North facing slope at about 11,000 ft in Gold Basin and were able to trigger a small avalanche on a west facing slope below the North Woods at about 10,000 ft. While natural avalanche activity was not as widespread as we would have predicted we are still calling the avalanche danger CONSIDERABLE, meaning that human triggered avalanches are likely on steep slopes in the La Sal Mountains. Heads up out there if you are contemplating venturing in to steep terrain. All of your terrain management skills (perhaps NOT going into steep terrain…) will be required. We are having the best conditions of the season right now in the La Sals, but take it easy.