Wasatch
Cache and Uinta National
Forests 
In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
Avalanche ADVISORY
saturDAY
decemBER 2, 2006
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
A cold northerly flow worked into the region overnight ushering in yet more cold air and about an inch or two of new snow. Hand warmers are probably the ticket this morning as 10,000’ temperatures are near zero and we’re just starting to climb out of the single digits at the trailheads. Winds are blowing out of the northwest at speeds of 5-15 mph. The riding and turning conditions vastly improved since the storm hit early this week and our recent bout of frigid temperatures preserved the powder. “Cold smoke” riding and sliding conditions can be found nearly everywhere and total snow depths average about 3’-4’ at the upper elevations.
Avalanche Conditions:
In the wake of the big storm most slopes across the range seem to be pretty well behaved. No recent avalanche activity has been reported or observed in our neck of the woods, but a rider did email in an observation from the Monte Cristo area on Friday. An avalanche 2’-3’ deep and about 150’ wide was triggered by two riders near the top of Whiskey Hill, a steep, heavily wind loaded east facing slope. The slide piled up nearly 15’ of debris in a group of trees at the bottom of the slope. Fortunately no one was caught in what could’ve been a very ugly avalanche. Thanks for emailing us this great observation!
Closer to home, yesterday’s blustery northwest winds did find enough light snow to blow around and form shallow wind drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation terrain. These new slabs should be easy to detect and very manageable in size. My gut feeling tells me most slopes throughout the range have adjusted to the additional weight from the storm early in the week. However, while very isolated, if you’re getting into steep rocky terrain with a shallow weak snowpack, you may still be able to trigger a deeper avalanche into old snow.
Bottom Line:
At and above tree line a MODERATE avalanche danger exists on
slopes steeper than about 35 degrees facing the north half of the compass,
especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche
danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.
On all other slopes the avalanche danger is
generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
A cold northerly flow will be
over the area today and skies should begin to clear this morning. Partly cloudy
skies, light winds and cold temperatures are on tap for the rest of the day.
Highs at 8,000’ will be in the mid teens and at 10,000’ near 10 degrees. Under
clear skies, overnight lows should bottom out around -10 degrees. The flow
shifts on Sunday and a warmer westerly flow moves over the region resulting in
nice sunny weather for the mountains and inversions for the valleys. There are
no storms in sight for the near future.
Announcements:
The
Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give
me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]
and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
For avalanche photos click here.
General
Information:
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’ll update this
advisory by
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.