Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

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

Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

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special Avalanche advisory

fridAY april 7, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am saturday april 8, 2006.

An avalanche warning is in effect for the western Uinta Mountains. Heavy snow and strong winds have created a 
HIGH AVALANCHE DANGER. Expected warming today will result in additional avalanches. Backcountry travelers 
should avoid being on or beneath steep slopes.

Good morning! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with a special avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Friday April 7, 2006 and it’s 7:00 a.m. Avalanche advisories for the western Uintas are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

This advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate information out to the public. I’m interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche. Please call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] and fill us in with all the details.

Current Conditions:

Wow… what a storm! Snow totals from early Wednesday to this morning are quite impressive. At Trial Lake, we received nearly 30” of new snow, the North Slope is up to 18” and Daniels Summit reports about 16”. The new snow is thick and wet, averaging about 14% density. In addition to the heavy snow, winds raged for most of Thursday with hourly averages in the 30’s and gusts in the 60’s and 70’s at the most exposed locations. Currently, winds have relaxed and are variable, blowing 10-15 mph along the ridges. Temperatures are in the upper 20’s at 8,000’ and near 17 degrees at 11,000’. The riding and turning conditions will be wallowingly deep today and trail breaking will be a Herculean event.

Avalanche Conditions:

The avalanche danger has risen significantly in the past 24 hours and people without well developed route finding, rescue and snow stability skills should avoid backcountry travel today. The snowpack has been slammed by the sudden load of a tremendous amount of snow and water weight. In addition, yesterday’s nuking winds will have created very large wind drifts and dangerous hard slabs. The storm snow is like an upside down layer cake and very inverted, with strong snow overlaying some lighter density layers. Triggering a slide today especially in steep upper elevation terrain would result in a large, dangerous and possibly unsurvivable avalanche. To add insult to injury, rapidly warming temperatures combined with periods of either cloud filtered or direction sunshine will increase the chances of wet avalanche activity. Remember- the sun is high in the sky and it’s beating down on all aspects and even penetrating into northerly facing slopes at mid and upper elevations. In lower elevation terrain where the snow surface didn’t refreeze solidly before the new snow fell, the pack is saturated, punchy and weak. Avalanches triggered have the potential to gouge into damp layers deeper in the snowpack, creating a larger slide than you might expect.

Finally, cornices have grown large and are sensitive, breaking further back than you’d think. Unfortunately, this led to a recent avalanche fatality in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Monday afternoon. I’d give these unpredictable monsters plenty of respect and steer of them. (Click here for an accident report and photos)

Bottom Line:

At all elevations the danger of dry snow avalanches is generally CONSIDERABLE this morning on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanches possible.

Be aware that in upper elevation terrain at and near timberline, there are pockets of HIGH avalanche danger on steep wind loaded slopes and both natural and human triggered avalanches are likely.

With rapidly warming temperatures, the danger of wet avalanches may increase to HIGH on all steep sun exposed slopes at all elevations with daytime heating.

Mountain Weather:

Skies will be clearing throughout the day and temperatures will warm into the mid 40’s at 8,000’ and near freezing at 10,000’. Overnight lows dip into the upper 20’s. Winds will be light and variable, blowing less than 15 mph along the ridges this morning and then switch to the southwest and increase later in the day. Increasing clouds and wind are on tap for Saturday with the chance of a scattered snow shower or two as a weak system brushes by the area. Partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures are expected Sunday with another stronger system affecting the region Monday.

Announcements:

 
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
 
“Beacon Basin” is good to go and ready to use at the Noblett’s Trailhead. While you’re waiting for your partners 
to gear up, swing by and test your avalanche beacon skills. It’s free and easily accessible from the parking lot. A big thanks 
goes out to members of the Utah Snowmobile Association for assisting in the installation and to Backcountry Access for 
providing all the gear. 
 
A special thanks to Tri-City Performance, Polaris and The Utah Snowmobile Association for stepping up to the plate 
and partnering to provide a new sled for the Utah Avalanche Center’s western Uinta avalanche forecasting program. 
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is up and running. This site was made possible through generous donations
by BRORA, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For avalanche photos click here.

General Information:

If you haven’t taken one of our free snowmobile specific avalanche awareness classes, schedule one now before things get too crazy. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 and I’d be happy to tailor a talk for your group.

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.

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am on Saturday April 8, 2006.

Thanks for calling!