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Avalanche advisory
Monday, February 14,
2005
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
Our partner The
Friends of the
Current Conditions:
Our next Pacific storm is slowly moving down through the region this morning with
10” already in the
Avalanche Conditions:
Not surprisingly, backcountry skiers
triggered a few new wind drifts in the more exposed terrain. One was at 10,500’ on a north facing slope off
The avalanche danger will be on the rise today.
The overnight winds will have already created some sensitive new wind
drifts in the mid and upper elevations and will be sensitive to the weight of a
backcountry traveler. The instabilities
will become more widespread and may even step down to the weak faceted snow
underneath the Feb 7 storm. As the
danger rises throughout the storm, naturals will become possible and deeper
slabs may be triggered at a distance. Folks
without good route finding skills should avoid being on or underneath slopes
approaching 35 degrees and steeper. Dropping
cornices and jumping onto test slopes will only give you a piece of the puzzle. Cracking and collapsing, particularly at the
mid and low elevations will be clues to avoid entry as well. It’ll be important to use information to make
conservative choices today, rather than substantiate the need to hit the big
open line.
Bottom Line (
The
avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on any wind drifted slope steeper
than about 35 degrees. Naturals may be
possible with human triggered avalanches probable. The danger is MODERATE
on the steep shady slopes at the mid and low elevations and may rise to
CONSIDERABLE with expected snow amounts.
Mountain Weather:
The storm will slowly make its way south through
the Wasatch, but by Tuesday morning would expect relatively even snow amounts
in the 1-2’ range. We’ll see the
westerly winds in the 20-30mph range and temperatures along the ridgelines in
the low twenties. We’ll get a quick
break tomorrow, with moist westerly storms set for the rest of the week.
Yesterday, Wasatch
Powderbird guides flew in AF, and if they get out today, will return.
We really appreciate any
information you are willing to give us.
You don’t have to be an avalanche expert to give us some observations so
please call and leave a message on our answering machine at 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140, or e-mail us at [email protected]. Fax is 524-6301.
The Friends of the
Early birds can catch our
early morning report at 6am by calling 364-1591.
The information in this
advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its
content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local
variations always occur.
Brett Kobernik will update
this advisory by 7:30 on Tuesday morning.
Thanks for calling.
For an explanation of avalanche danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm