Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Saturday - March 11, 2017 - 6:03am
bottom line

The avalanche danger will start at LOW this morning on all slopes. As the day warms the danger will rise to MODERATE mostly on the southern half of the compass where loose wet avalanches can occur. Loose wet avalanches are also possible on more northerly facing slopes at low elevations where the snowpack did not refreeze overnight.
special announcement

Spring Special: We have a few donated Snowbird, Snowbasin, Solitude, and Brighton discount lift tickets left and have just lowered the price. Ski a day and benefit the Utah Avalanche Center! Order here.

Guest blogger Tom Diegel follows up with part 2 of The Little Things (that might keep you alive).

Check out Part 1 as well for a good discussion about avalanche transceivers.
current conditions

Yesterday air temperatures climbed into the 40's and low 50's F. This morning under clear skies, most areas have temperatures in the high 20's F with temperatures near freezing between 7-8,000 feet. WNW winds are blowing 5 mph gusting to 15. On the high peaks and highest ridgelines winds are blowing 20-30 mph. South aspects should start to have decent corn snow while high elevation north aspects should have soft snow or firm chalky snow.

Greg Gagne's Week in Review March 3-9th can be found here.
recent activity

Wet loose avalanches occurred predictably yesterday as warm temperatures and sunshine heated the snow surface
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Below freezing air temperature and clear skies helped refreeze the snowpack this morning. The threat of loose wet avalanches will slowly rise as the snow surface warms and melts. The key to avoiding these types of avalanches is timing. Most days the cycle for wet snow goes like this:

  1. The day starts with hard, refrozen snow and poor riding conditions
  2. Depending on aspect, the snow surface warms and riding conditions improve.
  3. As the snow surface gets wetter and the day heats up, riding conditions deteriorate and the threat of wet avalanches rises.

The timing of this cycle varies by slope through the day with East aspects experiencing it first and West aspects experiencing it last. Loose wet avalanches can occur on northerly aspects as well at low elevations or near rock bands and cliffs.
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

With so much snow this year, winds have formed giant cornices. When and where they break is hard to predict. The best strategy is to avoid being on top of or beneath them. Traveling beneath them is possible but move quickly to limit your exposure.

The snowpack slowly creeps downhill and glide cracks open where it rests on a smooth ground surface like big rock slabs. At unpredictable times, a glide avalanche can occur. Seeing these glide cracks is the only indication these avalanches are possible. As with cornices, the best risk management strategy is to avoid being under these places. Glide avalanches mostly occur in the Broads Fork, Stairs Gulch, and Mill B South drainages of Big Cottonwood Canyon
weather

Today will be another warm one with clear sunny skies. Mountain temperatures should easily reach the 40's F and west winds will be light.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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.