Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Evelyn Lees for Sunday - March 16, 2014 - 7:06am
bottom line

The AVALANCHE DANGER is mostly LOW, with a POCKETY MODERATE DANGER on any steep slope with drifts of wind-blown snow and for wet sluffs with daytime heating. The wind drifts are most widespread in upper elevation terrain, on north through easterly facing slopes.




special announcement

Sale on all remaining discount lift tickets donated to the Utah Avalanche Center from Beaver Mountain, Wolf Mountain, Sundance, and Brian Head: The few remaining tickets are being blown out with all proceeds used to pay for avalanche advisories and education. Go here to get your tickets.

Can you change Utah in a day? Utah's non-profit community is a big part of what makes living in Utah great. Join your community in a state-wide day of non-profit appreciation and support with Love Utah Give Utah on Thursday, March 20. Your donation to the Utah Avalanche Center between now and March 20 through this link, large or small, helps pay for avalanche advisories and education and makes the Utah Avalanche Center eligible for challenge grants and special awards provided by local businesses. In Salt Lake City? Stop by Squatters downtown on Thurs 3/20 between 4 and 6 for some free snacks, an opportunity to chat with some of the UAC folks, and make an online donation.

Show Us You Know the Snow: US & Canadian avy groups have a challenge to sidecountry riders: Use your camera to tell a short video story about how your crew gets ready to safely ride beyond the resort boundary. Videos will be posted & promoted by GoPro & other partners. The contest will run till Mar 21. The winner will be determined by a combination of most views & an expert panel. Prizes include: 2 days at Monashee Powder Snowcats, 2 4-day Gold Passes to any US resort, a Backcountry Access Float 22 airbag, gear from Backcountry.com, editing help and support from Sherpas Cinema, & more. Winners will be announced in late March. . Details at knowthesnow.com Please share this with your friends
current conditions

It is a stunning spring morning, with clear skies and light winds. Weather stations in the Ogden area mountains are in the mid 20s to low 30s this morning, but temperatures were cooler overnight, and combined with the clear skies there should be an excellent refreeze. This morning the northwesterly winds have decreased significantly compared to 24 hours ago. Most stations are averaging less than 15 mph, with only a couple of the highest peaks having average speeds of 25 mph.

The last of the consistently soft snow will be found on more wind sheltered, upper elevation, northerly facing slopes, and the widespread frozen crusts elsewhere should soften with heating and sun today.
recent activity

Reports from the Ogden area mountains were of mostly stable snow, with a few isolated wind drifts and cornices sensitive to ski cuts. In the Salt Lake mountains, reports from the backcountry were of small wind slabs on upper elevation, northerly and easterly facing slopes, and are probably relevant to the Ogden area backcountry. Small wind slabs were triggered on Lake Peak in the Little Cottonwood White Pine (Johnston photos below) and near Twin Lakes Pass. Similar slides were reported from the resorts – soft to stout, shallow wind drifts, reactive to slope cuts, up to 10” deep and about 60’ wide.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

While most slides that a person can trigger today will be small, they must be considered in the context of the terrain you are in. Radical terrain with cliffs or potentially long rides can be unforgiving if you get knocked off balance or carried by even a small slide. Today, be looking for:

Wind Slabs: There are still places a person could trigger on of the lingering wind slabs. These will be most wide spread and sensitive where they are sitting on the slightly recrystallized old snow on the northerly and easterly facing slopes at the upper elevations. They could be up to a foot deep and 50 or 60’ wide.

Wet slides: Temperatures today will take a 5 to 10 degree jump over yesterday, and the snow on steep sunny slopes and the low to mid elevations will heat up just enough that a person could trigger a wet sluff. The snow heats up especially near dark rock bands. While a few spontaneous sluffs are possible, most of these will need a trigger. If the snow gets wet and sloppy where you are, head to a cooler aspect or head home for the day.

Other: Perhaps a few dry snow sluffs can be triggered on a steep, upper elevation, northerly facing slopes, and there is always an outlier – in rocky, shallow snowpack areas, there are still isolated places where a slab failing on facets could be triggered. The most recent was on Wednesday in the Salt Lake mountains.
weather

Clear, sunny skies today, with warm temperatures and light winds. Highs today will be in the low to mid 40s at 8,000’ and reach the low 30s along the high ridge lines. The northwesterly winds are continuing to decrease, with the current 30 mph averages across the highest peaks dropping to 15 mph by this afternoon.

Tonight, the winds will shift to the southwest increase ahead of a moisture starved, quick moving system that will cross northern Utah Monday, bringing 2 to 4 “ of snow, strong northwesterly winds, and a significant drop in temperatures, down into the low teens at 10,000’.

general announcements

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 by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

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)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY We have switched to a new SLC email advisory system. If you would like to get the daily advisory by email, or if you have been getting the advisory by email since the beginning of the season and wish to continue, you will need to subscribe here.​  

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures:  LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com - Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts.  All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI:  Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC.  Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell.  You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 exist.