Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Going Big! Safely. A clinic on learning how to take on some of the big mountain terrain is FREE and open to the public tonight, Thursday, January 7th, at Juan Diego High School. Athletes Julian Carr, Jen Hudak, Dash Longe, Cody Barnhill and Jaime Myersa, ski orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scholl and UAC’s Drew Hardesty will give advice on the preparation and safety behind the photos and movies of dropping the big lines.

Bruce Tremper will be doing a talk on Friday as well. Click on Education in the above menu to view details on both of these.


BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

The avalanche danger remains at CONSIDERABLE on the upper elevation northwest through east facing slopes approaching 35 degrees in steepness. Natural avalanches are not expected but human triggered slides are likely on numerous slopes. I expect to hear about a human triggered slab avalanche by the time the day is done.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Temperatures dropped into the mid to low teens overnight and into the single digits along the highest terrain. West winds have slowed to almost calm along the mid elevation ridges and gusting 5 to 15 in the more exposed locations. 2 to 6 inches of snow averaging 15 percent density fell in the Cottonwoods and along the Park City Ridgeline on Wednesday. The Ogden and Provo areas picked up a trace. Most backcountry observations noted a rime crust on numerous aspects and varied in elevations but was most pronounced in the 9000 to 10500 foot range in the Cottonwoods. In Provo the crust was reported down to 8500 feet.


RECENT ACTIVITY

We've recorded human triggered avalanche activity on 24 of the last 32 days in the Wasatch and Logan area mountains. On Wednesday a group of expert level backcountry travelers triggered a slab avalanche on the West Desolation Ridge of Mill D North in Big Cottonwood Canyon after performing a slope cut. It was a repeater that was reloaded, especially by yesterdays wind, and broke into faceted snow near the ground taking out the mid October Crust. It was 18 to 24 inches deep, 150 feet wide and ran about 800 feet vertical. It had a north aspect and was around 9400 feet in elevation. North of Square Top along the Park City ridgeline there was another human triggered avalanche. We only have a few details including it was a wind loaded east facing slope at around 9600 feet with everyone reported as being OK after the slide. There was also some wet loose avalanche activity in the lower elevations of Provo Canyon after the snowpack received some rain. One of those ran 2500 feet and one avalanched over The Fang which is a popular ice climbing route.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Yesterdays wind load accentuates our primary concern of avalanches breaking into pre-existing weak snow. There is a variety of layering combinations out there depending on location. Areas with a shallow snowpack and avalanche paths that have run and reloaded are likely suspects. It takes a very high level of skill to determine which steep slopes are stable and which are not. Intimate knowledge of the slope's history is key. While I enjoy attempting to evaluate which slopes are stable and which are not, I'm not willing to test my hypothesis on many slopes right now.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We'll see partly cloudy skies today with ridgetop temperatures in the upper teens to low 20s and light to moderate speed northerly winds. A ridge of high pressure moves in and looks like it will persist into next week. A minor disturbance may bring some cloud cover this weekend then back to high pressure early next week.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale at discounted prices.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30:888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Free UAC iPhone app from Canyon Sports.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Send us your avalanche and snow observations. You can also call 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

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 will update this forecast on Thursday morning. Thanks for calling.


This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.


This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.