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 29, 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 29, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Announcements:

A beacon-training center has been installed at the Nobletts trailhead and “Beacon Basin” up and running!
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, along with State Parks and The Utah Snowmobile Association
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.
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is back in operation. This site was made possible through generous donations
from BRORA and The Utah Snowmobile Association. You can view data by clicking here.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Clouds and light snow showers have developed overnight, as a trough to our south continues to push moisture into the region. Winds are light and generally out of the south, blowing 5-15 mph along the ridges. Currently at 11,000’ it’s 17 degrees and closer to the trailheads temperatures are in the mid 20’s. It looks like a trace of new snow has fallen overnight. The riding and sliding conditions are surprisingly improved by the 3”-6” of new snow we received Thursday. It is however, elevation dependent so you’ll need to get above about 9,000’ in order to get into the deeper snow.

Avalanche Conditions:

It’s been a couple weeks now since I’ve seen or heard of any new avalanche activity and I’m almost starting to think we’ve turned a corner in the general stability trend of the snowpack. However, I’m not quite ready to let my guard down and start diving into steep slopes with carefree abandon. In the back of my mind I know we still have a buried weak layer deep in the snowpack and while it’s gaining strength slowly my gut feeling says there’s still places where I could trigger a large avalanche. Granted, you could ride for a hundred miles and not trigger one of the old sleeping giants, but if your starting to really push the envelope and get into steep radical terrain, I’d continue to be diligent with my safe travel techniques. Steep, rocky slopes, which didn’t slide in the last big cycle and haven’t seen a lot of compaction this season, would be suspect terrain. If you want to get into steep terrain safely, look for slopes that have slid already. I’ll admit though, it is becoming a little trickier figuring out what did and what didn’t avalanche, because many of the old crowns are starting to blend into the snow surface. So the best way to solve this mystery is to take a minute and look at the runout zones to see if there are old piles of debris and other carnage clues, like broken trees.

Bottom Line:

On most slopes the avalanche danger is generally LOW today. Human triggered avalanches are unlikely and natural avalanches very unlikely.

However, there is still an isolated possibility of triggering a deeper avalanche today on slopes facing northwest through east, especially in areas with a thin, weak snowpack on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. In this type of terrain the avalanche danger remains MODERATE. A moderate avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible and natural avalanches unlikely.

Mountain Weather:

A moist and slightly unstable airmass will remain over the region through tonight. Today we should see mostly cloudy skies and light snow showers with an additional 1”-4” of snow expected. Temperatures will be fairly mild with highs at 10,000’ in the mid 20’s and at 8,000’ in the low 30’s. Overnight lows will be near 15 degrees. Winds will be light and southerly, blowing less than 15 mph along the ridges. Sunday looks about the same, though we’ll start to dry out late in the afternoon and high-pressure returns for Monday through most of the week.

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. 30, 2005.

Thanks for calling!