Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Friday - February 5, 2016 - 6:02am
bottom line

Today the overall avalanche danger is MODERATE, and there are heightened avalanche conditions on any slope with wind slabs or drifts from early this week or on any slope with a thin snowpack and/or buried layers of faceted snow. Unfortunately it takes work to know which slopes have these heightened avalanche conditions. There are several options if you want to get into avalanche terrain - do some investigating and careful assessments, go to low elevation slopes which have a LOW avalanche danger, or simply roll the dice. Another great option is to choose low angle slopes and not worry about avalanches at all.




special announcement

Tuesday February 9th - Fireside Chat at 7 p.m. at Black Diamond with UAC Forecaster Brett Kobernik who will discuss current conditions and discuss a near miss he had on Sunday when he was caught in an avalanche. For more info click HERE.

Wednesday February 10th - Avalanche Clinic for Ice Climbers at 6 p.m. at Liberty Mountain. For more info click HERE.

current conditions

Since yesterday a 1-4 inches of new snow fell. Temperatures this morning are in the upper teens F. LIght winds are blowing 5 mph gusting to 10 mph from the NW. Many wind sheltered slopes have about a foot of settled powder, and riding conditions are fantastic. In the Ogden area, crusts in odd places and some riming (kind of like a freezing mist) was reported yesterday. However, boot top deep powder was also reported. It sounds like a mixed bag of snow conditions without an apparent pattern yet.

recent activity

We are saddened by the avalanche death of a backcountry skier who was killed Sunday, along the Park City ridge line. A preliminary report is HERE. We visited the site Wednesday and will have more information posted in coming days. Additionally one of our own staff members had a very close call on Wednesday and was caught in an avalanche. Preliminary info is posted 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

Winds this week have blown from most directions. Many wind slabs should be stubborn to trigger. Through most of this week, ski areas have triggered wind slabs with explosives and ski cuts. I think there are some in the backcountry that remain unstable. The best riding is in wind sheltered terrain, so it's an easy call to avoid any slopes with recent wind deposits.

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

I'm not entirely sure what's going on in the snowpack in the Ogden area mountains in terms of buried faceted layers, but they exists and that makes them worth looking for and assessing. Drew and his partners on Wednesday found a weak layer somewhere between 7000 and 8000 feet in elevation where a touch of rain fell last weekend at the onset of snowfall. They didn't feel that this layer had enough of a load on it to be a problem yet. We'll keep watching it. Additionally a layer of surface hoar may have been buried about a week ago in isolated places. Fortunately these layers aren't buried deeply. It's quick and easy to dig down and look for them.

Lastly, we can't rule out avalanches breaking near the ground. This doesn't appear to be a problem in the Ogden area, BUT deep slab avalanches have occurred just a little further south near Salt Lake. I'd be weary of any slope with a snowpack less than about 3 feet deep.

weather

Skies should be mostly cloudy today with some sunshine appearing later today. Temperatures should warm into the mid 20s F and winds should remain light. It looks like winds will increase tomorrow, and then a ridge of high pressure moves over the area for an extended period.

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.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

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.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - 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.