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
“keeping
you on top”
AVALANCHE ADVISORY
Thursday,
October 26, 2006 11:00 am
This is the
Special
Announcement:
Don’t forget
about the annual backcountry gear swap sponsored by the Friends of the
Current Conditions:
We had a nice little
snow storm blast through on Wednesday, which laid down 12-15 inches of snow
above 10,000’ and around 6 inches at 8,000’.
The pre-existing snow was nearly a foot deep above 10,000’. The winds also blew from the northwest
gusting to over 30 mph. Ridge top
temperatures today have dropped down into the mid teens.
Avalanche Conditions:
Even though it’s still
early in the season, any time new snow falls on pre-existing snow, there is
always the potential for avalanches. Craig
Gordon was up along the upper elevation ridges at Brighton this morning and was
able to trigger a small pocket of wind drifted snow on a steep,
northeast-facing, rollover around 10,000’.
The winds have also been transporting some of the new snow and creating wind
slabs on downwind terrain. So there are
definitely places where people can trigger avalanches today. The slides will break on the interface
between the old and new snow. On shady
slopes above about 10,000’ there is a little bit of faceted snow between the
new and old snow, making those slopes persistently sensitive.
As usual, with each
snow or wind storm you need to carefully check how well the new snow is bonded
to the underlying snow. You can easily
do this by using test slopes, which are small, short slopes where the
consequence of an avalanche are low.
Just jump on them to see how they respond. You can also quickly dig down with your hand
and isolate a small column of snow and pull on it to see how easily it breaks
away.
Bottom Line:
There is a MODERATE danger of human triggered avalanches on all slopes
where more than about 6 inches of new snow has fallen on pre-existing snow, especially
on slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. This is a good time to avoid wind drifted
terrain. Also, the snowpack is still
very shallow with lots of obstacles to hit, it’s a
good idea to stay on slopes less steep than about 30 degrees with grass
underneath.
Remember the ski
resorts are not yet open, nor are they doing any avalanche control. So you have to treat them like backcountry
terrain. In other words, your favorite
slope that usually has moguls can easily slide and you need to cross them one
at a time and never jump in when another party is below you. Every fall there are several close calls and
occasional fatalities at unopened ski areas.
Finally, be sure to
put fresh batteries in your beacon and do lots of practice scenarios before
heading into dangerous terrain.
To find early season
weather information, be sure to bookmark the National Weather Service page and you
should regularly consult the Snow
Page, (Alta Collins station is operating) the Satellite Imagery page
(look at infrared Western U.S. 2km).
If there is anything
we should know about, continue to let us know by calling (801) 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140, email [email protected]
or fax 801-524-6301
Well, good luck, stay
on top and we’ll be talking with you on a regular basis starting Monday,
October 30th.