In partnership with: Utah Division of State
Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department
of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and
AVALANCHE ADVISORY
Friday,
February 03, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
There will be a minor road closure in Big Cottonwood between
about 7:50 and 8:30 this morning while they bomb Stairs Gulch if the weather
allows.
There
are still a few tickets left for the 3rd Annual Backcountry Awareness Fundraising Dinner tonight at
6pm with speakers Conrad Anker and Apa
Sherpa. This usually sells out so call
Snowbird at 933-2147 for tickets. Visit www.backcountryawareness.com
for more details.
Current Conditions:
Gusty winds continue along the ridgelines and
temperatures are in the mid teens to mid 20s this morning. Snow showers continued overnight in the
mountains with the Cottonwoods and Park City Ridgeline receiving 2 to 3 inches
with less in the
Avalanche Conditions:
Sensitive fresh wind drifts in the
Cottonwoods were a common theme from Thursday with numerous intentional and
unintentional human triggered avalanches.
One person took a short ride on north facing Kessler after a slab broke
out 8 to 10 inches deep and 50 feet wide.
He stopped while the slide continued for about 1000 feet vertical
distance. Another skier unintentionally
popped out a slide 12” deep by about 50’ wide that ran about 150’ on a south
aspect. One more slide worth mentioning
was triggered after a skier kicked a cornice which then released a pocket that
started to run down the slope then stepped down into faceted snow from last
week. The initial slide was about a foot
deep but broke 1 ˝ to 2 ˝ feet deep and 300 feet wide when it stepped down. It was on a southeast aspect in upper Bear
Trap. There was not as much activity in
the
The slides from yesterday perfectly
demonstrate things we need to watch for again today. Wind drifts that formed yesterday and last
night may still be sensitive today.
Also, there is a chance you may find an area where you could trigger an
avalanche into deeper layers. Each slope
must be evaluated carefully and all backcountry protocols should be followed
strictly. This means one person at a
time on steep slopes and make sure to completely clear all runout zones.
Bottom Line:
Today the avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep
wind drifted slopes. There is also still
a MODERATE chance of triggering a slide that
breaks into deeper layers in non wind affected terrain. Remember that a moderate danger means human
triggered avalanches are possible. With
clearing skies today the snow may become wet on southerly facing slopes so you
will need to pay attention for activity here as well.
Mountain Weather:
We should see partly cloudy skies with ridgetop winds in the 20 mph
range from the northwest and ridgetop temperatures will be in the upper
teens. Temperatures warm quite a bit on
Saturday and will be near freezing at 10,000 feet. Ridgetop winds will stay in the 15 to 20 mph
range but shift to the southwest.
Another storm moves in late Saturday night and into Sunday bringing a
dramatic cold front with a good shot of snow.
12 inches is possible. High
pressure will dominate weather next week.
Click here for the National
Weather Service graphic Forecast.
Announcements:
Click here to check out our new online avalanche encyclopedia.
Early birds and snow
geeks can catch our 6AM report at 364-1591.
You can find our mountain
weather forecast here
by about noon each day.
Click HERE for a text only
version of the avalanche advisory.
To
have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day, click HERE.
UDOT also has a highway avalanche control work
hotline for Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday and they will fly in
Mineral,
Please
report any backcountry snow and avalanche conditions. Call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, email [email protected] or fax 801-524-6301. 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.
Evelyn Lees will
update this advisory by 7:30 Saturday morning.
Thanks for calling.