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
Sunday,
March 16, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
Yup, still snowing out
there with most areas picking up an additional 3-6” overnight of the 4-5% Wasatch
champagne powder. Totals are adding up
now to near 30” in favored areas of the Cottonwoods and near 20” in favored
areas of
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
Just to get caught up,
another report trickled in yesterday of a skier being caught and carried Friday
on southeast facing Hellgate in upper Little
Cottonwood. The slab broke above him and
he was reportedly carried 100’. Action
spilled into yesterday with another skier being caught and carried in what
appears to be upper Days Fork. On a
northeast facing slope at 9800’, the skier triggered a 1-2’
deep and 60’ wide soft slab, carrying him 50’. Everyone was reported to be ok. That makes at least 3 folks caught and
carried in the past two days, with weak faceted snow reacting to the wealth of
snow and triggers. Brett found a couple
naturals in the faceted snow from Friday in steep mid-Alexander Basin of Mill
Creek and his report can be found on our photos page. Collapsing in the new structure most of the
way up the Cardiac Ridge rerouted one of our more keen observers yesterday, and
diligent stability tests corroborate the avalanche activity on the weak layers
formed last week during the spell of high pressure. The laundry list continues: pockety soft
slabs in the new snow, and alternating dry and wet long running sluffs provided
more widespread action on the steeper slopes, though these are less devious and
more manageable than what’s been catching and carrying folks.
So we’ll continue to
have numerous issues to deal with in the backcountry. Sure, it’ll be epic skiing and riding once
again, but mind a few details. First,
watch for continued sluffing in the low density snow on the steepest
slopes. They’ll be enough to knock you
off your feet and drag you through the trees or over rockbands,
with burials likely in terrain traps.
Second, if the northerly winds pick up out of the northeast this
afternoon, watch for soft slab development and cracking along the highest,
southerly and westerly aspects. Third, weak
layers buried now 14-20” deep will still be reactive to human triggering at the
mid and upper elevations, and so far, have been triggered on northeast through
southeast facing slopes. I suspect that
they’re not limited to these aspects.
Collapsing and pit digging should assist in confirmation of this
layering, but slope angles of 30-35 degrees should provide some, though not all
of the insurance here. Might as well throw in the kitchen sink. In a highly convective
spring atmosphere, watch for rapid changes in the weather. Any prolonged ‘sun-breaks’, as they call them
in the Pacific Northwest, will immediately result in wet sluffing on the steep
sunny slopes.
Bottom Line for the
All steep mid and
upper elevation slopes have at least a MODERATE danger today,
with human triggered sluffs probable and soft slabs possible. The danger is more pronounced in the
Practice safe travel
procedures today, of only one person on a steep slope at a time both ascending
and descending, and get out of the way at the bottom. With lots of people in the backcountry, if
you are kicking cornices or ski cutting – make sure there is no one below you –
any slide triggered may run further than expected, or could triggering a second
slide to the side.
Mountain Weather:
A moist, unstable
environment will keep snow showers going for much of the day, with alternating
periods of late sun. It’s spring. Might be briefly sunny in
one canyon, and snowing in the next.
Could see 3-6” during the day. Temps
will be in the low twenties and low teens at 8000’ and 10,000’ and winds should
remain generally light from the northeast.
The winds may pick up to 20-25mph by late afternoon.
Announcements
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides got in one
run in
If you want to
get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.
UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be
found by calling (801) 975-4838.
Our statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).
Watch video tututorials and fieldwork from UAC staff at our YouTube
channel.
The UAC depends
on contributions from users like you to support our work. To find out
more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche
forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.
If you see any avalanches or interesting snow conditions, 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.
I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday morning.