| Please join us at the 23rd annual Black Diamond Fall Fundraiser Party Thursday Sept 15. Tickets are on sale now here, at the Black Diamond store & at REI. Special bonus raffle for online ticket purchasers! |  |
| Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains | Issued by Mark Staples for Friday - February 5, 2016 - 6:02am |
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
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LIKELIHOOD
 LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
 LARGE
SMALL
TREND
 INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
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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. |
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
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LIKELIHOOD
 LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
 INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
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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. |
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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
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