Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Tuesday - December 17, 2013 - 7:49am
bottom line

The majority of the terrain in the mountains has a LOW avalanche danger. A MODERATE avalanche danger still exists in terrain above 8000' on west through north through east facing slopes, especially in wind effected areas. Human triggered slab avalanches are still possible.




special announcement

Donated Black Diamond Skis, a Voile splitboard, a BCA Tracker 2 transceiver, and an Outdoor Research down jacket, all new, are being auctioned on Ebay to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center and simplify your holiday shopping - go here to see the goods. Ends mid-day Wednesday.

current conditions

It's been nice up in the mountains over the last few days with clear skies and mild temperatures. The snow surface is, well, variable. Southerly slopes have gone through a couple of melt-freeze cycles so you'll find crusts depending on your timing. There's been a few periods of wind so you'll find crusts and wind slabs in the mid and upper elevations. If you're creative enough and willing to do a little work, you can find obscure patches of undisturbed loose snow which is quite nice for turning. This loose snow is, of course, our next weak layer once it's buried. Overnight, temperatures were mild in the mid 20s to low 30s with fairly light westerly winds.

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

As time goes on, the chances for triggering a slab avalanche in the upper elevation terrain continue to decrease. Enough so that I felt it was time to try and retrieve my ski I lost after inadvertently kicking it off into an avalanche starting zone last week. This was a steep, upper elevation northeast facing slope in Days Fork. While conditions are becoming less dangerous, I still had my partner belay me on a rope while I sifted around and FOUND MY SKI!! I used a rope for three reasons.

  • A - I was in terrain where you would most likely be able to still find an avalanche.
  • B - Even a small ride would result in getting beat up by rocks in the shallow snowpack.
  • C - I'd look like a fool going for a ride in the exact terrain that we've been warning people about.

Needless to say, once I was in the starting zone, I got a good feel of what the snowpack is like. About half of the starting zone consisted of loose faceted snow from the surface to the ground. My skis sank right through to the rocks. The other half of the area had wind slabs of varying thickness over facets. Some of the thinner wind slab seems to be breaking down due to continued faceting. I did not get any cracking or collapsing.

So, in summary, the current avalanche danger continues to decrease as the slab looses structure and the underlying weak snow continues to adjust. This is great until we get a significant new load of snow, then, all bets are off.

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

As the surface continues to loosen under the near surface faceting process, we may start to see some human triggered loose snow sluffs. The guys at Park City snow safety noted some of this as they were preparing slopes on Monday. Start watching for sluffing in very steep sheltered terrain. On sustained enough slopes, the sluffs may start to entrain enough snow to push you around. It won't pose a great threat but it's worth a mention.

weather

It's going to be another very nice day out there today with mild temperatures and light westerly winds. Wednesday looks similar for most of the day. A large storm system is going to split and drift to our south on Thursday. An associated cold front should give us a little snow. There's a chance that there will be enough lingering moisture through Saturday that we may actually accumulate some snow. Perhaps enough to call it a "refresher" if we're lucky.

general announcements

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 occur.

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 (801-231-4150)

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closuresLINK TO UDOT

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

We'll soon be lining up a new automated emailed advisory delivery system - stay tuned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  They'll be up and running later this winter -

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.

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.