Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Evelyn Lees for Saturday - December 13, 2014 - 7:16am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep slopes facing north through north through easterly at the mid and upper elevations. Old hard wind slabs hidden beneath the new snow are hard to identify, and could crack out under the weight of a person, sending you for a ride. Shallow sluffs and new soft wind drifts can also be also triggered, especially on steep, shady slopes.
special announcement

Tour the Slotterhouse: On Tuesday, Dec 16, at 6 pm Andrew McLean will do a slide show at the Petz HQ about a recent trip to the Wrangell - St. Ellias National Park and Preserve in AK to ski a spectacular collection of splitter couloirs and schlep around the world's most luxurious glacier camp, putting early British expeditions to shame. Details here.

Discount lift tickets are in and for sale - ski a day at the resorts and benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Tickets for Alta, Brighton, Deer Valley, Solitude, and Snowbasin, Snowbird, and Sundance are in and more tickets are expected shortly.
current conditions

Light snow is continuing to fall in the mountains, and once again we’re getting nickeled and dimed. The Ogden area mountains have received 2 to 5 inches of dense snow, with many other areas reporting only 1 to 2”. Temperatures have dropped into the twenties, and the winds are still from a southwesterly direction. The winds were gusty as the front passed, but are trending rapidly downward.

recent activity

3 hard slab avalanches have been triggered in the past 2 days. Yesterday, one was remotely triggered in the Logan Area Mountains and a deeper 14-16” hard slab was triggered with explosives in the Salt Lake mountains. Thursday there was a slide in Mineral Fork. Brett took a look at this yesterday - info here.
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

Strong winds on Thursday and Friday created these scattered hard wind drifts that are sitting on weak recrystallized snow on shady mid and upper elevation slopes. They are now hidden beneath the new snow. The pixelated snow pack makes it especially tricky – conditions change rapidly over very short distances – even just a step or two. In addition, the shallow snow cover and rugged ground cover make even a short ride in a slide a dangerous proposition.

Concerns with our current hard slab/facet combination include:

  • Slides can be remotely triggered from a distance, including from below
  • Hard slabs let you get out onto the slab, before breaking above you
  • The hard slabs are randomly scattered, and hard to predict
  • A hard slab even a few inches thick can knock you off balance and take you for a ride
  • Slide paths that have already slid this winter have especially weak snow and could slide again.
  • A small slide has the potential to step down, triggering a large slide on a deeper weak layer

From the National Avalanche Center Encyclopedia - more info here.
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Normally, I wouldn’t blink twice at 2 to 5” of new snow, but today it’s landing on very weak faceted snow, and will bond poorly. Again, the worst layering is on the northwest thorough easterly facing slopes at the mid and upper elevations, with some facets persisting down to 7,500' on very sheltered, shady slopes. Also be alert for poor bonding and sluffing on the slick crusts of the sunny slopes. In steep terrain of all aspects, you may be able to trigger new shallow, soft wind drifts and sluffs.

weather

The weak storm system moving across the Wasatch today will bring occasional light snow to the mountains. There will be a bit of a lull this morning, until the winds shift to the northwest this afternoon, when the isolated snow showers may increase, producing another 1 to 3” of snow. The southerly winds this morning will start out with 20 to 25 mph averages, and gusts in the 30s and 40s. Wind speeds will decrease throughout the day, and dropping to below 15 mph at most stations by late this afternoon. Temperatures today will be in the low 30s at 8,000’ and the low 20s at 10,000’.

A ridge will build in late Sunday through Monday, with another small disturbance possible mid week.
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, 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  If you would like to get the daily advisory by email 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.

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 with more resorts to come soon. - 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.  You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking 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.