Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Thursday - February 4, 2016 - 5:51am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is CONSIDEARABLE on steep upper elevation slopes with new or old wind drifts. The drifts will become more widespread today as the winds increase. The avalanche danger remains CONSIDEARABLE on steep, upper elevations slopes facing west through north through east where deep slides breaking near the ground can be triggered, especially slopes that have slid one or more times this year. Both these issues become more isolated, with a MODERATE danger at the mid elevations.

Safer terrain choices with superb powder conditions include lower angle, wind sheltered slopes.




special announcement

TONIGHT, Thursday at 6:00pm - The Utah Adventure Journal Speaker Series presents professional skier Brody Leven, who will share the story of his incredible adventure to climb and ski the northernmost active volcano in a 36-hour push from his sailboat base camp. More info HERE.

Tuesday, February 9th - Companion Rescue at Weller Recreation from 6:30-9pm. For more info HERE.

Wednesday February 10th - Avalanche Clinic for Ice Climbers. For more info click HERE.

There are still a few spaces in the Women’s Backcountry 101 avalanche classes at Brighton this weekend and Snowbasin in 2 weeks. For more info on those classes and other education offerings through out the state, check out our Education Page.

current conditions

Temperatures this morning are in the single digits to low teens F. Winds increased since yesterday and this morning were blowing 10-15 mph gusting to 30 mph from the W and SW. Cold temperatures, new snow, and limited sunshine have made great riding conditions on wind sheltered slopes.

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 yesterday and will have more information posted in coming days.

Avalanche activity yesterday involved fresh wind slabs triggered during ski area avalanche reduction work with ski cuts and explosives.

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

It's hard to drop the danger due to wind slabs with more strong winds occurring this morning. I doubt they have as much new snow to transport as they did early this week, and fresh wind slabs shouldn't be as widespread. Since early this week, winds have blown from most directions. This morning they were blowing from the SW and W but will shift back to NW later today. For these reasons, watch for and avoid any areas with wind deposited snow.

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

In many places the snowpack is getting deeper and stronger. There are some faceted layers in the upper 2-3 feet of the snowpack. The weakest is a spotty layer of facets (and maybe some surface hoar like Trent found in Broads Fork) buried under new snow from this weekend and this week. This layer should be mainly a problem where it is capped by a wind slab. Fortunately, you can dig into the snowpack a few feet deep and quickly look for and assess these layers.

Facets near the ground cause the deep slab avalanche problem. They produced Sunday's fatal avalanche in a place where the snowpack was 2.6 feet deep and a similar avalanche in No Name bowl on Tuesday. While these avalanches are several days old, this type of problem persists for a long time and doesn't go away as quickly as we'd like. It's a tough problem to forecast for and manage in the backcountry. Regardless of the danger rating, what we want to see is an extended period of time without any reports of avalanches breaking at the ground. Until then, upper elevation slopes facing W through N through E should be assumed guilty.

weather

It’s going to be another cold day with out much warming – 10,000’ temperatures will stay in the single digits and 8000’ temperatures warm to near 15. The northwesterly winds will increase today, especially along the higher ridge lines, where averages to 35 mph, with gusts to 50 mph are possible. Mid elevation winds speeds will average 15 mph by this afternoon. Clouds and winds will continue to increase tonight through Thursday, as a small disturbance brings a few inches of snow on Thursday.

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.