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Avalanche advisory
Monday, March 21, 2005
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
Current Conditions:
Spring has sprung! A blockbuster
pounded the Wasatch with heavy snow and winds and totals across the range are
15-18” in the
Avalanche
Conditions:
Yesterday’s onslaught produced very sensitive avalanches in the backcountry,
first with the high snowfall rates (2-3”/hr) in the morning and then again when
the winds started nuking by noon. Going
through the checklist, we just about had it all yesterday: cracking- check,
collapsing - check, pockety naturals, ultra sensitive soft
slabs, avalanches in to old snow, remotely triggered slides, shallow wet
slab avalanches. Check, check,
check. Most slides were 1-2’ deep and 50-150’
wide and teetered on the edge of become unmanageable. With the winds, all aspects got into the
action, with many pulling out well off the ridgelines. The pucker factor kept folks from hitting any
big exposed lines; instead, most stayed on ridgelines and lower angled terrain,
only sticking their neck out onto slopes steeper than 35 degrees if the
consequences were minimized or they were executing a slope cut. Also of interest were the avalanches pulling
out into faceted snow. One of our more hirsute observers in
the Wilson Glades remotely triggered a 2’x150’ wide avalanche from 100 yards
away while on the uptrack, and then remotely triggered another in
Bonus Bowl at the end of the day. These were
on north facing slopes at 9400’ and 8500’ Down in Provo, in the Sundance backcountry,
a skier triggered a 15-24” soft
slab into older faceted snow (photo
w/obvious facets), pulling out 250’ wide on a 38-41 degree northeast aspect
at 8800’.
If
yesterday the snowpack was generous and offered multiple clues to the avalanche
conditions, today it might be a little more shy. Cornice drops, column isolations, and test
slopes will still yield some important information about snow stability. Steep wind loaded slopes that haven’t settled
out yet will be the most cause for concern, but these may be difficult to spot
with the new snow covering them up. Many
of yesterday’s slides occurred well off the ridges, so keep it cool and follow
good protocol all the way back to the car.
Avalanches may still be triggered at a distance today at mid and upper
elevation shady slopes.
Bottom Line (
The
avalanche danger remains CONSIDERABLE on
all wind drifted slopes steeper than 35 degrees. You can find LOW
danger on slopes less steep than 35 degrees without steeper terrain above.
Danger Scale: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm
Mountain Weather: (You can find the afternoon Weather Update here.)
Snowfall should be heaviest this morning with another 4-8” likely by the time
it tapers off this afternoon. A
shortwave ridge builds in tonight ahead of another juicy storm Tuesday night
into Wednesday. The third storm for the
week is slated for Thursday night into Friday.
8000’ highs will be in the mid-twenties with 10,000’ temperatures in the
high teens. The northwesterly winds will
continue in the 15-20mph range, slacking off by the afternoon.
The
Powderbirds didn’t get out yesterday and likely won’t get out again today.
If you have any snow or
avalanche observations, call and leave a message at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140,
or e-mail us at [email protected]. Fax is 524-6301.
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.