Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and Utah State Parks.

 

 

 Avalanche INFORMATION UPDATE

 

Good morning, this is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with an avalanche and mountain weather update for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Saturday November 15, 2003 and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

 

Current conditions:

Snow coverage throughout the range is still a bit on the thin side with depths averaging a little over 2’ above 9,000’ in elevation. The biggest danger out there right now is probably slamming into a hidden rock or stump and local shops are keeping plenty busy, repairing damaged machines. Trail riding or turns on a smooth grassy slope continues to be the best bet at this time.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

While the avalanche danger in the western Uinta Mountains has been fairly negligible this week, frankly due to lack of snow, in neighboring ranges things are getting interesting. On Wednesday, a local rider was buried several feet deep after triggering a slide on Logan Peak. He was not wearing a beacon, though his partners did have a couple of shovels and a probe. Fortunately they were able to locate and dig him out and the incident has a happy ending. The central Wasatch has been quite active as well, with a number of avalanches triggered by backcountry enthusiasts in the past few days.

The avalanche danger will be on the rise this weekend as a series of storms begins to affect the region. The areas of most concern will be steep, upper elevation, wind loaded slopes, especially those that have a pre-existing snowpack. If your getting out and about this weekend, be alert to the clues of instability such “whumphing” sounds or cracking of the surface snow around your skis or machine.  With all the rocks and stumps out there hidden under this veil of thin snow, going for a ride in an avalanche would have a nasty result.

Many avalanche accidents and close calls occur early in the season when our avalanche eyeballs are just starting to get back into focus. If you start to venture into steep terrain, practice safe travel techniques and carry a beacon, shovel, and a probe.

 

General Information:

We’ll begin issuing our regularly scheduled advisories as soon as there’s enough snow to get the season rolling, hopefully after this weeks’ storm cycle. 

We can always use snow information and observations from riders and skiers are a vital component to this program. So if you see or trigger an avalanche give us a call at 801-231-2170 or 1-800-662-4140.

Also, if you’d like to schedule a free avalanche awareness talk and/or field day give us a call at 801-524-5304.

I will be giving a free avalanche awareness talk on Friday November 21st at 6:00 p.m.  The location is Buttars Tractor, which is on 1640 West Main Street in Tremonton.

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.

 

Thanks for calling.