Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Tuesday - April 11, 2017 - 6:41am
bottom line

Today is a typical spring day with mostly refrozen snow and a LOW danger rising to MODERATE as the day warms. The extent of wet snow activity will depend on how much things warm up and the effect of increasing clouds this afternoon.
special announcement

Garage Sale

Want to stand on one of Utah's high peaks this spring? Are you thinking of hiring a guide? We are selling a gift certificate donated by Utah Mountain Adventures for a day of private guiding for two people. Selling for $250

We also have a pair of Black Diamond Helio 116 size 176cm skis that we are selling for $600

All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche center. If you are interested in purchasing or have questions please contact [email protected]
current conditions

This morning temperatures are generally in the low 30's and upper 20's F and winds are blowing 10 mph gusting 25 mph from the SW.

Most slopes received enough sun yesterday to dampen Sunday's powder except for high elevation, north facing ones. The weather remained cool enough to prevent widespread, loose wet avalanches. With clear skies overnight and below freezing temperatures, the snow surface will be refrozen this morning.

It generally takes a few days of melt-freeze cycles (which we haven't had yet) to get decent corn snow, and I don't expect you can find much today.
recent activity

A few small, shallow, slabs and loose avalanches were triggered yesterday by ski guides. Otherwise, most avalanche activity occurred on Sunday when people were able to trigger dry, storm snow avalanches. In terms of wet avalanche activity, yesterday's modest warm up produced very few wet slides. One small wet slab avalanche was observed in Mineral Basin.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

The refrozen snow surface needs to melt before loose wet snow avalanches can occur today. Clouds will arrive this afternoon. It's hard to say what their effect on the snow will be. Sometimes, clouds provide shade from the sun and limit heating. Other times they can trap warmth from the sun like a greenhouse and increase heating of the snow.

Watch for pinwheels and roller balls to know that the snow is getting wet and the danger of loose wet avalanches is increasing.
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

Dry snow found on high elevation, north facing slopes will be generally stable. Instabilities in the storm snow from Sunday should have mostly healed by today but don't take it for granted. Isolated areas could produce small, dry snow avalanches.

Large cornices remain a concern. Stay well back from the edges of the huge cornices along the ridge lines and avoid travel beneath them. It’s very hard to realize how overhung they are. Five hikers died in Canada this weekend when a massive cornice broke underneath them. Read more in this ARTICLE.
weather

This morning will start clear and sunny and temperatures will rise into the upper 40's F. Winds will average 10 mph from the south with gusts of 25 mph, and skies will become cloudy this afternoon.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out 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 request 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.

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 critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

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 occur