Avalanche Advisory
| Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains | Issued by Evelyn Lees for January 19, 2013 - 7:01am |
|---|
 
Above 8,500 ft.
7,000-8,500 ft.
Below 7,000 ft.
|
bottom line While the avalanche danger is mostly LOW, timing and terrain are critical. Even a small avalanche can be serious if it takes you for a 2000’ ride, off a cliff, into trees or into a terrain trap like a gully. There are pockets of MODERATE danger for the following avalanche problems:
|
 |
special announcement Sad news – while details are lacking, news channels are reporting that 2 Heber boys were killed yesterday in the west fork of the Duchene in the western Uintas when the snow (a cornice?) gave way and they fell down a steep embankment and were buried for about 30 minutes. Craig will head to the accident site today. |
 |
current conditions It is another clear, beautiful morning in the mountains. Temperatures are in 20s at the mid and upper elevations, with a few teens down in the valley bottoms. The northwesterly winds have kicked up a bit, and are in the 10 to 15 mph range, with gusts in the low 20s. A few upper elevation peaks are gusting into the 30’s. Sunny slopes will be crusted early, and soften with daytime heating, there is wind damage up high, but soft recrystallized powder is widespread on the wind sheltered, shady slopes at the mid and low elevations. |
 |
recent activity From the Wasatch mountains, reported avalanche activity was limited to wet and dry loose sluffs. |
Avalanche Problem 1over the next 24 hours
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
|---|
 |
Above 8,500 ft.
7,000-8,500 ft.
Below 7,000 ft.
|
|
|
description
Both wet and dry loose sluffs can be triggered by people today. Damp loose sluffs can be triggered on steep, sunny slopes as the snow heats up – first east, then south, then west. The size of dry sluffs is gradually growing – these loose sluffs on shady slopes could be just large enough to knock you off your feet, or possibly take you for a ride in very steep terrain. |
Avalanche Problem 2over the next 24 hours
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
|---|
 |
Above 8,500 ft.
7,000-8,500 ft.
Below 7,000 ft.
|
|
|
description
There will be both stiff old wind drifts and a few new ones to identify and avoid on steep slopes today. The winds have been predominately from the north, so the drifts will be most widespread on southerly facing slopes. |
Avalanche Problem 3over the next 24 hours
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
|---|
 |
Above 8,500 ft.
7,000-8,500 ft.
Below 7,000 ft.
|
|
|
description
There is a facet festival going on, especially at the mid and lower elevations, with surface hoar the star on top. As the bonds between the snow crystals disintegrate, the slab weakens, and the chance of triggering a slide on the weak January snow is decreasing, though not gone. If triggered, this would be the largest and most dangerous of today’s avalanche problems. |
 |
weather Just a slight variation on the January theme today - skies will be clear once again, and temperatures a few degrees cooler, warming into the upper 30s at 8,000’ and remaining in the mid-20s at 10,000’. The winds will be slightly stronger along the high ridges – averaging in the 15 to 25 mph range at times, with gusts in the 30s, from a northerly direction. High pressure looks to dominate for the rest of the month, with the only possible break a weak disturbance around the 24th |
| general annoucements Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Park City, Beaver Mountain, Canyons, Sundance, and Wolf Mountain. All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks. Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322) Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017) Powder Mountain Ski Patrol Dispatch (801-745-3773 ex 123) Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150) Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8. Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening. Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE. UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838 Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ . Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory bysubmitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work. For a print version of this advisory click HERE. This advisory is produced by the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist. Specific terrain and route finding decisions should always be based on skills learned in a field-based avalanche class |