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 22, 2007  7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Monday, January 22, 2007 and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

Our partners, the Friends of the UAC, are hosting numerous events during the 4th Annual Backcountry Awareness Week, including a photo show by Scott Markowitz at the Rose Wagner Theater on Jan 24th, a slide show and book signing by Jill Fredston at REI on Jan 26th, a star studded snowmobile ride and dinner on Jan. 27th, a dinner February 2 at The Canyons with Olympic Gold Medal Winner Jim Shea, and avalanche classes at the Canyons on February 3rd and 4th.  Details are below, or click here for more information.

 

Current Conditions:

With skies clearing, the bottom fell out of the temperatures overnight, plummeting to below zero in the cold sinks and drainages.  They’re in the wee single digits along the ‘thermal belt’ and above.  While the new 4-8” helped to freshen things up, the northeasterly winds played somewhat of a foil, blowing 20-30 mph for a few hours.  You can anticipate some wind damage above treeline that you can boss around and scoured-to-the-bone starting zones in many north through east facing slopes.

 

Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:

Backcountry observers reported some minor slab development up high and control teams along the Park City ridgeline found and triggered a couple soft 12-18” drifts.  Sluffing was minimal as was the overall danger.  Continue to watch for some locally sensitive drifts up to a foot deep in the highest terrain, and in areas most susceptible to the northeasterly winds, such as the backside of the Wasatch crest and the Park City ridgeline. 

 

Lastly, with clear skies and rapidly warming temperatures aloft, watch for some increasing minor wet activity in the new snow on all the sun-exposed slopes over the next couple of days. 

 

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

The danger is generally LOW with the exception of some localized new and old wind drifts in the steeper lee terrain.  Sluffing is still possible as well.  Both of these issues will be accentuated by the terrain below, so consider the consequences of getting knocked off your ride.  The continued stronger winds aloft will also foster some minor slab development today as well, but they should be relegated to the most exposed terrain.

 

Mountain Weather: 

Ah yes, the ridge of high pressure returns.  8000’ and 10,000’ temps will rise to the upper twenties and the upper teens, respectively.  The north to northwesterly winds will blow 15-25mph with higher gusts, but will be light off the ridges.  A cold front associated with a disorganized system is slated for Friday into the weekend. 

 

Announcements:

The Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday, but will be in the Cascade Ridgeline area or Bountiful Sessions with anther ship in American Fork.  Their homerun may be out White Pine.  If you have questions regarding their areas of operation you can contact them at 742-2800.
 

On
January 24th at 7:30pm, our partners, the Friends of UAC will be accepting donations at a photo show by mountain sports photographer Scott Markewitz. Shot both internationally and in Utah, Scott’s images have been showcased in the world’s most prestigious ski and outdoor and capture the essence of what keeps us alive, twitching and checking this report daily. Suggested donation $10. At the Rose Wagner Blackbox Theater, 138 W 300 S in downtown SLC.

On Friday, January 26th, the well-known Alaska avalanche expert, Jill Fredston will give a slide show and a lecture on, Snowstruck, her new book about her career with Alaska avalanches.  It will be at the Salt Lake REI at 7pm.  Sales from her book will benefit the Utah Avalanche Center.  She will also speak at Alta’s Our Lady of the Snows on Saturday night, January 27th.


On Saturday Jan. 27th, come join us for a star studded fundraising ride. Click here for more details or call 801-963-3819. 

                                                    

Then there will be a Fundraising Dinner on Friday, February 2, 2007. The dinner will be at The Canyons and Olympic Gold Medal Winner Jim Shea will be the keynote speaker. For tickets and information visit www.UtahAvalancheCenter.com Also, the Canyons will be offering avalanche classes on Saturday and Sunday, February 3rd and 4th.  For more information and to register, call 435-615-3325.

 

Listen to the advisory.  Try our new streaming audio or podcasts

UDOT highway avalanche control work information can be found HERE or by calling (801) 975-4838.

 

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


For a list of avalanche classes, click HERE

For our classic text advisory click HERE.

To sign up for automated e-mails of our graphical advisory click HERE

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.