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
Saturday,
February 17, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
The Banff
Mountain Film Festival will be held at Kingsbury Hall next Tuesday and
Wednesday, 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:
Yesterday was the
seventh day in a row with human triggered avalanches and my money is on today
being the eighth. Temperatures are in
the mid teens to low 20s and ridgetop winds are slowing but still gusting from
the northwest in the 30s and 40s at the most exposed locations.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
There were a few
remotely triggered avalanches from skiers yesterday that included one on the
east face of Reynolds peak and one on the north aspect of Reynolds. The east facing slide involved the new snow
and a rime crust. This was around a foot deep and 80’ wide and ran around 400
feet vertical. The pocket on the north
side was small and didn’t run as it was on a very low angled slope.
At least two snow
safety workers were caught in avalanches on the job yesterday and one was
injured.
Did I mention the
large class three and class four natural avalanches that released in Main Days,
Banana Days, and off of Scott’s peak on the
Does all this
information mean anything to you? If you’re
not getting the hint I’ll spell it out.
A-V-A-L-A-N-C-H-E! That’s right, it
spells avalanche. Things are dicey out
there. The savviest people are playing
it conservative which means sticking to low angled slopes and out from
underneath run out zones or areas that have steep slopes above them. Even some of the most experienced people have
had close calls this week.
Collapsing of the
snowpack which makes a loud “whoomping” noise
continues but has slowed at little in the last couple of days. Not all slopes have recent avalanches visible
either. This means that two of the most
obvious clues to avalanching may not be present but trust me, the snowpack
structure alone demands you stay off of steep slopes. Also, the current snow structure may allow
more then one person to cross a slope before it lets loose.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
remains CONSIDERABLE
on slopes over 30 degrees especially on north through south east facing
slopes. These slopes should be avoided
today. Stay out from underneath steep
slopes as well since collapsing of the snowpack could trigger something above
you. It is likely that you could trigger
a very large and dangerous avalanche today.
Mountain Weather:
It looks like the nice
weather today will help to entice people with “powder fever” into dangerous
areas today. Skies will be only partly
cloudy with mild temperatures in the upper 20s at 10,000 feet and upper 30s at
8000 feet with decreasing winds throughout the day. It looks like another nice day on Sunday then
the next chance for snow will be Sunday night into Monday.
Announcements:
Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly, and today they will
be in American Fork, Snake Creek, Cardiff, Days, Silver, Grizzly and White Pine. 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.
Drew Hardesty will update this advisory by 7:30 on Sunday morning, and
thanks for calling.