Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Evelyn Lees for Friday - December 18, 2015 - 7:07am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on upper elevation slopes facing northwest through easterly and steeper than about 30 degrees. Human triggered slides are possible, and can be triggered remotely from a distance. Other steep slopes have a MODERATE danger of triggering new snow slides, wind drifts or wet sluffs.

Low angle terrain is the place to recreate in the backcountry -whether you are riding, turning, snowshoeing or sledding.




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current conditions

It is downright balmy out, with temperatures in the Ogden area mountains an astonishing 15 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. Most stations are in the 20s, with teens along the high ridge lines. hopefully this event will miss the Ogden area mountains. The southwesterly winds are light, less than 20 mph. In parts of the Salt Lake mountains, it’s precipitating a mix of frozen rain and rime, crusting the snow surface. Elsewhere, the snow has settled, and been thickened by the wind on many aspects and even crusted a bit on the steeper sunny slopes.

recent activity

The lack of avalanche activity in the Ogden area mountains is down right spooky. No naturals were observed, and resort avalanche reduction work had few results. The same weak facets are sitting on the ground as elsewhere in the northern Utah mountains, it seems enough weight or a slab are the missing ingredients. If you are heading to any of the other northern Utah mountains, read their area specific advisories.

Just for comparison, the Park City ridge line basically came unglued yesterday - naturals occurred overnight and midday in Dutch Draw, and slides were remotely triggered in No Name, Scotts, Radar Love and South Monitor (1000' wide by 4’ deep), all failing on facets near the ground. Details on the avalanche page.

Left: South Monitor slide, Mark White photo Right: Scotts Bowl, Grant photo

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

While there were some spectacular avalanches in northern Utah yesterday, unfortunately most slopes in the Ogden area mountains are still just waiting for a load. Some of these tempting slopes could be triggered by a person. Overnight, the southwesterly winds did pick up for several hours along the high ridge lines, with averages in the 35 to 45 mph range. Steep slopes facing northwest through north through east are NOT the place to be – if you did trigger a slide - probably on a wind loaded slope - the slide would probably break to the ground. Slides can be triggered from a distance or from below, and tracks on a slope are not a sign of stability. If you hear a collapsing or whoomphing sound, you are in the danger zone - get off of and out from under steep slopes.

Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Rapid warming today may trigger wet sluffs at the lower elevations and on a few steep sunny slopes if the skies clear. Roofs may start to shed their snow in both the valleys and mountain towns, resulting in piles of snow deep enough to bury a person.

weather

It should be a pleasant break today, with gradually clearing skies and very warm temperatures – highs near 40 degrees at 8,000’ and near 30 along the ridge lines. The southwesterly winds will remain moderate, averaging 15 to 25 mph, gusting in the 30s, with the highest peaks averaging to 35 mph. Overnight, the winds will ramp up ahead of the next storm that could give us a descent shot of snow Saturday night. Next week continues to look very stormy - warm, windy and wet, with periods of heavy snowfall.

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.

To get help in an emergency (to launch a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911.  Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort/PCMR Dispatch (435)615-1911

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, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

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

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.