Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Evelyn Lees for Saturday - December 9, 2017 - 6:15am
bottom line

The danger is generally LOW in the Provo area mountains. Watch for and stay off of any fresh wind drifts, which will be at the higher elevations.
special announcement

Get important updates from the UAC via text message directly to your phone. Its very simple - text 40404 and send this message "Follow uacwasatch".

Looking for a great stocking stuffer for Christmas? Discount lift tickets for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Deer Valley, Snowbasin,and Beaver Mountain are now available, donated by the resorts to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details and order information here. These make a great holiday gift and all proceeds go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education!

Support the UAC when you shop Whole Foods Market at Trolley Square, Sugarhouse, and Cottonwood Heights. Between now and Jan 11th, Whole Foods will donate a dime per bag to Utah Avalanche Center when you shop there and donate your bag credit during check out.

Please abide by the uphill travel policies of the ski resorts. Info here.
current conditions

It's a beautiful day to head to the mountains, with clear skies, warming tempearatures and light northwesterly winds, in the 5 to 10 mph range. Even across the highest peaks, wind speeds are only averaging 15 to 20 mph. Temperatures in the Provo area mountains are marching upward, already in the low to mid 30s as of 6 am. Cold air is still pooled in the canyon bottoms, where temperatures are still clinging to teens.

Snow in the Provo area mountains is mostly confined to the upper elevations. Any snow on the southerly aspects is in the process of melting or be coming crusted. On the upper elevation, shady slopes, the snow is faceting, forming a weak layer for the future. It becomes an avalanche problem once a slab forms on top. Not much has changed since Drew visited Timp on the first of December, except several days of strong, northeasterly winds.

With limited terrain available for riding (low tide as some call it), take the time to practice with your rescue gear if you get out. Watch this video. Matt and Tom were glad they had practiced and luckily had a happy ending.
recent activity

Gazex testing released a small slide on an upper elevation, northwesterly facing slope in Little Cottonwood yesterday, which gouged into the weak snow as it ran downhill.
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

In the Provo area mountains, there are few slopes with enough snow to ride, and they would be a long hike to reach. And then, hitting rocks would be the greatest hazard.

However, several days of stronger, northeasterly winds this week left behind hard, shallow wind drifts, mostly at the higher elevations and along ridge lines. Avoid travel on these hard, shallow, cracky wind drifts, which are cross-loaded onto a variety of aspects. Triggering one of these probably wouldn't bury someone, but would run them into rocks and cause injury.
weather

The high pressure over Utah isn’t budging, so a series of copycat days is on the way, with sunny skies and warm temperatures in the mountains through midweek and beyond. Temperatures each day will warm into the upper 30s to mid 40s, with the overnight low dipping into 20s. The northerly winds will average 5 to 15 mph, with the highest peaks averaging 20 to 25 mph.
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.

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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

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.

Support the UAC through your daily shopping. When you shop at Smith's, or online at REI, Backcountry.com, Patagonia, NRS, Amazon, eBay by clicking on these links, they donate a portion of your purchase to the FUAC. If you sell on eBay, you can have your See our Donate Page for more details on how you can support the UAC when you shop.

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.