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
Wednesday,
February 14, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
The Banff
Mountain Film Festival will be held at Kingsbury Hall February 20 & 21st. Tickets are $7.50 per show and available at
Kingsbury Hall, Art-Tix, the Salt Lake and Sandy REI
stores, and the Outdoor Recreation Program at the U of U. Shows start at 7pm each night. (CLICK FOR DETAILS)
Current Conditions:
Skies are partly
cloudy this morning, with a trace to 2” of new snow overnight. Temperatures are in the teens to single
digits, and the northerly winds are generally averaging less than 15 mph except
for a few of the highest peaks. The sunny
southeast through westerly facing slopes are now crusted, with good powder remaining
on other aspects. Low angle slopes have
excellent riding conditions.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
Whoomphing sounds
continued to ring throughout the Wasatch yesterday, even on already traveled
slopes. Three slides were triggered remotely
on northeasterly facing slopes, the largest 3’ deep x 150’ wide, the other
pockets 50’ and 75’ wide. One skier had
a slide break out 40’ above them, 1-2’ deep by 100’, going for a short
uneventful ride. More observations came
in of widespread natural activity that occurred during the storm. For photos, snow profiles and the daily
updated avalanche list, click on the links to the left.
Two types of slides have
occurred over the past few days – the smaller new snow soft slabs and the
larger hard slabs, both of which are failing on facets and surface hoar and can
be triggered remotely. The smaller new
snow slides are easily triggered. They are
dangerous, especially in steep terrain or if they wash
you into trees or into a terrain
trap such as a gully. In addition to
along ridgelines, many are occurring in wind sheltered mid elevation terrain, on
steeper rollovers. Today’s increasing
winds may create more sensitive drifts along the higher ridges.
In the more wind affected,
higher elevation terrain, there remains an isolated chance you could trigger a much
deeper, wider slide of hard, dense snow.
These hard slabs are tricky – they tend to break well above you, or
after several people have skied the slope.
Basically, any steep slope that hasn’t slid is still suspect. In some rocky areas, the chutes have slid,
but not the aprons below, which are steep and still could be triggered.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger is
CONSIDERABLE
on mid and upper elevation slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, facing
northwest through southeast. Human
triggered avalanches are likely on slopes that have not slid. Other steep slopes have a MODERATE danger. The key to safe travel in the backcountry
today is to stay on low angle terrain. Avalanches
can still be triggered from a distance, so avoid travel below steep terrain.
Mountain Weather:
A brisk northwesterly
flow will remain in place through Friday, with occasional mountain snow showers
in areas favored by northwest flow. Increasing
clouds today, with a trace to an inch of snow possible. Temperatures will be in the mid 20’s at 8,000’
and mid teens at 10,000’. Along the
highest ridges, the northwesterly winds will increase, into the 20 to 30 mph
range with gusts into the 40’s. Along
the lower ridgelines, winds speeds will generally remain below 20 mph. Thursday and Friday will be cloudy, with occasional
light snow and significantly stronger winds.
A ridge of high pressure will move in for the weekend.
Announcements:
Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in Cardiff, American Fork,
and Grizzly and today will be in Cardiff, Days, Silver, White Pine, and
American Fork weather permitting. With
questions regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.
Listen to the
advisory. Try our new streaming audio or
podcasts
UDOT highway avalanche
control work info can be found HERE
or by calling (801)
975-4838.
Our statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, 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 all the great snowpack
and avalanche observations we’ve been getting, so keep leaving us messages 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.
Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by 7:30 on Thursday morning, and
thanks for calling.