In partnership with: The Friends of the
Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Public Safety Division of
Comprehensive Emergency Management,
Avalanche INFORMATION
Thursday, October 28,
2004 6:00 pm
Good
afternoon, this is
Current Conditions:
Well,
I must say, I’m very impressed. This is
the best October snow cover in the 19 years I’ve been in
Avalanche Conditions
Today,
the main problem was soft wind slabs, mostly along the ridges breaking 4-8
inches deep and 20-40 feet wide. Avalanche
control in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon produced more widespread avalanches
around 11,000’ breaking about a foot deep. These wind slabs are very sensitive,
especially when they sit on an old sun or wind crust from yesterday. Although most of them are quite soft, they
are harder, deeper and more dangerous along the highest ridges and in some
other wind exposed areas. Clues to
instability will include cracking of the new snow. As always, you should avoid any steep slope
with recent wind deposits. Check them
out before you commit yourself.
A
second avalanche problem today was damp and wet snow below about 9,500’. There
was some rollerballs and surface sluffing at lower
elevations. Damp to wet surface sluffs
could trap you in a terrain trap such as a gully.
Remember,
for the most part, the unopened ski areas are not doing control work, and are
just as dangerous as the backcountry. Alta Ski Area will be open to uphill traffic on
Friday and possibly Saturday but may close for uphill traffic again depending
on Saturday’s forecasted storm.
Bottom Line:
The
avalanche danger is MODERATE
on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted
snow, which are most widespread along the higher ridgelines. The avalanche danger is also MODERATE on steep slopes below about 9,000’ which are
getting damp to wet. Elsewhere, the
danger is generally LOW. The rest of this storm looks like it won’t
put down significantly more snow overnight but if we do get more than about a
foot of new snow or if the winds pick up, the avalanche danger will rise. Places like the south slope of the
Mountain Weather:
We might
see another 4-6 inches of snow overnight with ridgetop winds staying moderate
from the west and turning northwest by morning.
Overnight temperatures will drop to the mid 20’s and the daytime high on
Friday should be around the mid 30’s at 8,000’. We have a bit of a break in the weather on
Friday with partly cloudy skies and some light snow showers. Then , a colder
storm comes in from the northwest on Saturday night, which should give us
perhaps another foot of snow.
If
you are getting out, drop us a line or an email with any reports or
observations from the backcountry. You
can leave us a message at 524-5304 or 1 800-662-4140. Email us at [email protected],
or a fax to 524-6301.
The
information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service, which is solely
responsible for its content. This
advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.
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