Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Drew Hardesty

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

There are a number of slots open for our Advanced Avalanche Workshop later this month. Brett Kobernik will lead this class which will focus on our remarkable weak layer formation this year and persistent weakness in general. DETAILS

There are also a few slots open in Evelyn's womens Backcountry 101. DETAILS

BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

Pockets of CONSIDERABLE overliea mostly MODERATE danger in the backcountry. They're primarily in the steep northerly through easterly terrain in the mid and upper elevations. These slides - while pockety - are are unmanageable - they can be triggered at a distance.

Consequences remain severe in the thin weak and threadbare snowpack - any slide is likely to gouge down and entrain more of the weak sugar snow on the way down. Collapsing in the snowpack is an immediate clue to unstable snow and should be your next hint to remain in lower angled terrain.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Under clear skies and generally light westerly winds, mountain temps are in the upper 20s along the ridgelines and the lows teens at the trailheads.

RECENT ACTIVITY

One experienced backcountry skier was able to trigger (uncertain if yesterday or Sunday) a shallow soft slab 8" deep and 30' wide in the upper east south-east facing part of Cardiff Bowl in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Elevation is roughly 9600'. Explosive control work at the mountain resorts continues to pull out a few pockets in the northerly 'uncompacted' (read: unskiied) terrain. Collapsing and cracking was noted by backcountry observers along the Brighton and Park City periphery, the Canyons periphery, and in upper Silver and Days Forks of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Many of these reports can be found on our Current Conditions page.

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

Continued collapsing of the 12/28 rain/rime crusts and 12/30 wind drifts over the weak facets and surface hoar should demand continued caution when traveling through steep terrain. The loading patterns are highly variable - you could be wallowing in unsupportable sugar then collapse a dust-lined wind pillow. Most of the drifts are on easterly facing slopes - some are just off the ridgelines, some are well down in the drainages in the lee of natural deceleration zones. And they're pockety in nature - few we've seen are wider than 50' wide.

Still, these are nearly 10 days old - persistent indeed and point toward problems we'll have with storms down the road.

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

A splitting storm will bump the wind speeds along the ridgelines by midday into the afternoon. These drifts may be minor but worth a mention.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We'll start out with bluebird skies with temps reaching into the low 30s at 10,000' and the mid to upper 30s at 8000'. A few clouds and increasing-to-moderate westerly winds portend of yet another splitting storm on our doorstep. The northern branch of the split may offer a trace or so overnight followed by a cool northerly flow through the rest of the week.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

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

Daily observations are frequentlypostedby 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail clickHERE.

UDOT canyon closuresUDOTat (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides are suspending the opening of helicopter skiing operations. Once we have enough snow cover, daily updates to this bloghttp://powderbird.blogspot.com/will begin for the 2011-2012 season.

You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submittingavalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clickingHERE

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.

We will update this forecast tomorrow 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.