Wasatch Cache National Forest
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 Salt Lake County.

keeping you on top

AVALANCHE ADVISORY

Monday, January 01, 2007  7:30 am
Happy New Year!  This is Drew Hardesty with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Monday, January 01, 2007 and it’s 7:30 in the morning. 

 

I’d like to thank our longtime partner Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort for hosting Friday night’s amazing fundraising dinner and film producer David Breashears for sharing his spectacular new Everest Expedition film. A portion of the proceeds will help the avalanche center.

 

Current Conditions:

Skies are partly to mostly cloudy across the range on the heels of yet another storm diving to the south.  Winds have been light and westerly with temps in the upper teens and mid-twenties.  Snow surface conditions are variable, but the walking and the aesthetic rewards will come easy.  Here’s to a new year and new beginnings.

 

Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:

One backcountry skier triggered a small wind pocket 8-10” deep and 10’ wide in upper Days Fork, commenting that it would have packed less punch than a sluff.  Otherwise, it was quiet.  Of course it remains a mixed bag of weakness in the upper, mid, and basement portions of the snowpack (see profiles).   Recent reports of collapsing, trickled-in human triggering, and a shady snowpack structure doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.  Watch for an increase in sluffing over the week.

 

Bottom Line for the Salt Lake, Park City, Ogden and Provo area mountains:

Most terrain across the Wasatch has a LOW danger today.  Very isolated pockets of MODERATE remain at mid and upper elevation west through north through east facing aspects.    

 

Mountain Weather:  Skies will start to clear out as a ridge of high pressure noses back into Utah.  Winds will shift to the northeast and mountain temps will be in the low twenties at 10,000’ and upper 20’s at 8000’.  The weather looks uneventful until Thursday when the southwesterly winds kick in ahead of a quick hitting cold front.

 

 

Announcements: Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in American Fork and Cascade.  Today, they’ll return with a home run out White Pine.


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Our new, state wide tollfree hotline is 1-888-999-4019.
(For early morning detailed avalanche activity report hit option 8)


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We appreciate any snowpack and avalanche observations you have, so please leave us a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at [email protected]. (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.

Brett Kobernik
will update this advisory by 7:30 on Tuesday morning, and thanks for calling.