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 ADVISORY

saturday January 22, 2005

Good morning, this is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Saturday, January 22, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Announcements:

We installed a beacon-training center at the Nobletts trailhead last weekend and “Beacon Basin” is good to go! Many thanks go out to Backcountry Access for supplying all the equipment, Doug Page and all the volunteers who provided manpower, Jim Conway who was the brains behind the operation, and the Kamas and Heber Ranger Districts for their in-kind support. Swing by and check it out before going on the snow. It’s free and within walking distance from the parking lot.

Yesterday we went up and fixed the Moffit Peak weather station and it’s up and running! Providing the entertainment, route finding, and sherpa services were Ted, Rick, Mark, Joe, and Dave from both the Kamas and Evanston Ranger Districts. I couldn’t have accomplished this task without them and thanks for all your hard work! You can view data by clicking here.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

You wouldn’t believe it by looking out your window this morning, but up in the mountains skies are clear and temperatures quite warm the higher you go. With high pressure firmly entrenched over the area, temperatures have become quite inverted. For instance, at 11,000’ it’s in the low 30’s and at 8,000’ it’s in the low 20’S. Winds are light and variable, blowing less than 10 mph even along the highest ridges. The riding and turning conditions are a mixed bag with a few old tired scraps of powder on the high elevation shady slopes, and some supportable corn-like crusts developing on the sunny aspects.

Avalanche Conditions:

I’m happy to say the avalanche activity has quieted down significantly in the past few days and the warmer weather is helping the snowpack to consolidate and strengthen. This warming trend is a good thing, but as the day heats up you’ll want to start thinking about wet slide activity. Damp avalanches may be able to initiate a deeper avalanche as they descend the slope, so during the heat of the day it’s probably not a good idea to have a picnic or change your sparkplugs under any steep, sunny slope.

Also in the back of my mind is the remote possibility of triggering one of those deeper, nasty, hard slabs. Yesterday while we were fixing the Moffit Peak weather station and observing the carnage from the last big avalanche cycle, I noticed a common theme with a lot of the large avalanches was they occurred in steep, rocky terrain with a shallow weak snowpack. So as you start to get off the beaten track this weekend, think about the kind of terrain you’re riding in. While it may be harder to trigger a deep avalanche the consequences remain every bit as severe.

Bottom Line:

The danger of triggering a deep hard slab avalanche today is MODERATE on slopes facing north through east, especially in areas with a thin, weak snowpack on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. A moderate avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible and natural avalanches unlikely.

On steep sunny slopes the avalanche danger will rise to MODERATE with daytime heating.

Mountain Weather:

A ridge of high pressure will camp out over the region through the weekend giving us mostly sunny skies, light winds, and balmy temperatures. Highs today at 8,000’ will be near 50 degrees and at 10,000’ in the mid 40’s. Overnight lows will be close to freezing. Winds will be out of the southwest this morning, switching to the north later in the day, and will remain light, blowing less than 10 mph along the ridges. Sunday looks about the same with slightly warmer temperatures. A bit of a change may occur Monday night into Tuesday as a weak storm tries to break through the ridge, but we may only see clouds and a little cooling as a result. The computer models want to bring a series of systems into the region later in the week, but right now confidence is low. I’ll keep you updated.

General Information:

We’re interested in what you’re seeing especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche. Call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] or fax to 801-524-6301 and fill us in with all the details.

If you’d like to schedule a free snowmobile specific avalanche talk and or a field day, please call 801-231-2170.

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. I will update this advisory by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday Jan. 23, 2005.

Thanks for calling!