Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

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 is MODERATE on slopes steeper then 35 degrees especially on northwest through east aspects. Human triggered avalanches are possible. These slides are not manageable and many are breaking near the ground which would make for an ugly and traumatic ride through the rocks.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures are around 20 degrees along the ridges and cooler lower in the drainages. We have light westerly winds. Surface conditions are a mix of creamy dense soft snow, sun, rime and wind crusts. With a little creativity, you can find pleasurable riding.

RECENT ACTIVITY

We didn't hear of any avalanche activity from Friday but did hear of an avalanche that was triggered on Thursday verifying my forecast. One of our steadfast observers, a friendly lunatic that lives at the base of Cardiff Fork spotted it in the Catcher's Mitt of Kessler in the Friday morning light. It was northeast facing at around 10200 feet. He went up and took a look at it and reported it as around 2 feet deep, 50 feet wide running around 400 feet vertical. It was a repeater and broke into facets near the ground. Tracks suggest an unintentional release during a ski descent. This avalanche brings the count to 25 days of human triggered avalanches out of the last 34.

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

You can still find places where you could trigger an avalanche breaking into preexisting weak snow. Areas with the following components are the most suspect. Slopes of 35 degrees or steeper. Northwest through east facing slopes. Mid and upper elevations. Thin snowpack areas. Slopes that have avalanched on weak snow and reloaded especially by the most recent winds. If you travel in this terrain, don't be surprised if you trigger something. Avoidance is the best mitagation technique. Collapsing is Mother Nature screaming instability at you. Slope cuts may not yield results. A number of the recent avalanches have been triggered by the second or third person across the slope which is common for this type of persistent weakness. Explosive testing at ski areas has popped out slabs with previous bomb holes in them.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Recent fresh wind drifts seem stubborn and hardly worth mentioning aside from areas where they might break into old snow.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We'll see partly cloudy skies today with ridgetop temperatures in the mid to upper 20s and light westerly winds. High pressure continues Sunday with some cloud cover and mild temperatures. The ridge axis squares off over us on Monday with clearer skies and continued mild temps. Models indicate a system will affect us mid week but it currently shows signs of splitting which reduces our chance for snow accumulation.

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.

Evelyn will update this forecast on Saturday 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.