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
Sunday,
February 12, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
As a benefit for
the
Current Conditions:
High pressure’s on its last leg and most
of us in the field are looking forward to the ‘regime change’ in the weather
pattern this week. Skies are clear,
winds are mostly light from the northwest and mountain temps are in the upper
teens in the upper elevations with cooler temps pooling down low. Backcountry snow surface conditions range
from quasi-supportable corn on the steep sunny aspects with interspersed wind
board and recrystallized powder on the north.
Avalanche Conditions:
Imagine a graph with one line tracing the extent,
structure, and sensitivity of our hard wind slabs and the other line tracing
the unbelievable geographical extent of terrain that people have been getting
into the last few days. The lines
finally crossed yesterday with three skier triggered releases in very steep,
very exposed upper elevation northerly facing terrain. The third skier on a northeast facing chute
off the summit of Box Elder tumbled nearly 2000’ after triggering a 1-2’ deep
by 200’ wide hard slab and miraculously survived without any major
injuries. In upper Little Cottonwood,
four skiers traversing high under Little Superior were caught and carried, and
partially buried after triggering a 1’ deep and 40’ wide hard slab, while
further down canyon, a skier triggered, but was not caught in, an 8” deep by 40’
wide hard slab off the Tanner’s Notch down into upper Broad’s Fork.
These problems are not and will not be widespread
in nature, but confined to the highest, most exposed terrain. All were hard slabs from periods of strong northwesterly
winds (photo
from Box Elder on Friday) along the highest elevations on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday sitting on faceted snow formed during the past week of high pressure. Warming temperatures after Friday’s dry cold
front may have been a contributing factor as well. All parties had experienced individuals and
would complement the Box Elder team for ski cutting and traveling one at a
time.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger remains generally LOW today. Isolated pockets of stubborn, yet triggereable
hard wind drifts exist in steep, exposed, upper elevation terrain. As the day heats up, it may be possible to
trigger small wet sluffs on steep, sunny slopes.
Mountain Weather:
We’ll have mostly sunny skies with light northwesterly winds. 8000’ highs will reach toward 40 degrees with
10,000’ temps rising to near 30. A
system passing by to the northeast will bump cloud cover and winds tonight, but
it’s simply a prelude to the storminess expected by about mid-week. 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
Wasatch
Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday, but will have one ship in AF and
White Pine and another in the Sessions.
For more info, call 742-2800.
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.
I will update
this advisory by 7:30 Monday morning. Thanks for calling.