Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Moab Area Mountains Issued by Eric Trenbeath for Friday - January 12, 2018 - 6:42am
special announcement

This advisory will be updated intermittently with a general conditions report until snow coverage is sufficient for winter travel.

Plowing: Grand County plowed the road on Thursday, Jan 11.

Grooming: Matt ran the roller on Thursday and will be setting track today.

We've scheduled our annual Backcountry 101 avalanche course for Feb 2,3. For more information or to register go here.

We've also scheduled a Motorized Backcountry 101 for snowmobiles and snowbikes. For more information or to register go here.
current conditions


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It is finally starting to look like winter in the mountains with accumulated snow since Monday totaling 12" at 1.2" of water. Base depth at Geyser Pass Trailhead is 11" and 16" in gold Basin. On Thursday, my partners and I ventured beyond the road into Gold Basin. It was a beautiful day with fresh snow around, but coverage remains exceedingly thin and we never took our skins off. For now, cross country skiing, and snowmobiling on roadways remain the best form of winter recreation and travel.

New snow totals in Gold Basin.

Snow totals at the Geyser Pass Trailhead, (9600')

Wind, temperature, and humidity on Pre Laurel Peak (11,700')

Coverage remains exceedingly thin, and it's going to take at least a couple good storms to make travel conducive in this kind of terrain.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

The overall thin coverage, and lack of accessibility to avalanche terrain, do not warrant a danger rating at this time. In most areas the snowpack is simply too shallow and well anchored by brush and rocks to produce an an avalanche. However, the underlying snowpack has already been demonstrating it's inability to support a new load and collapsing and cracking over small areas has been a regular occurrence since our most recent storm cycle. What this means is that we have a developing persistent slab problem where weak, sugary, faceted snow near the ground is providing an unstable base for future snow loads. Most of this weak, faceted snow can be found on northerly facing slopes between about 9500' and 11,500'. The extreme upper elevations were mostly blown clean prior to this last storm, but a few gullies harbor buried, weaker snow. For now, the potential for triggering an avalanche is very remote however, travelers wandering into steep sided gullies, could possibly trigger a shallow avalanche down to the rocks. This condition will only worsen with the next snow load.

weather

Read it and weep...
general announcements

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This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.