Wasatch
Cache and Uinta National
Forests 
In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
Avalanche ADVISORY
wednesDAY
january 3, 2007
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated with on Saturday January 6,
2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
I’d like to
thank our longtime partner Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort for hosting last
Friday night’s amazing fundraising dinner and film producer David Breashears
for sharing his spectacular new Everest Expedition film. A portion of the
proceeds will help the avalanche center. Speaking of fundraisers…come join us
for a star studded fundraising ride on Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here for more details or call 801-963-3819.
Current Conditions:
A moist westerly flow
will settle in over the region and in advance, clouds are beginning to drift
into the area. Winds are generally blowing out of the west at speeds of 15-25
mph along the 10,000’ ridges, with gusts in the low 40’s at the most wind
exposed mountain top locations. Temperatures are near 30 degrees along the
ridges and at the trailheads. No new snow has fallen since Sunday night and
quite frankly the riding conditions are starting to get grim. Finding soft snow
among the rock hard old tracks and wind blasted crusts is a Houdini-esque feat, but cagey riders can still find patches of soft
settled powder on sheltered shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
The only recent
avalanche activity to report are three snowmobile triggered pockets about a
foot deep and 50’-75’ wide, occurring on steep east and northeasterly facing
slopes, above about 10,200’. Ted noticed them yesterday in the Super Bowl of
Whitney Basin, while up on
Other than a few
isolated, rogue wind drifts up high, the possibility of triggering an avalanche
is getting more remote with time. However, there are still places today where
you could get surprised and trigger an old hard wind slab that has the possibility
to knock you off your machine, skis or board. Most of the potential though,
will be confined to steep, upper elevation wind loaded terrain.
In addition,
today’s winds will be able to find what little soft snow there is out there and
form shallow new wind drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. These
should be relatively manageable, but could be sensitive to the weight of a
rider as they’re forming on weak, faceted snow. With a storm on the way and an
abundance of weak surface snow for avalanches to fail on, I’d expect the avalanche
danger to rise as the winds blow and new snow stacks up.
Bottom Line:
On most slopes throughout the range, especially at
mid and lower elevations and in wind sheltered terrain, the avalanche danger is
generally LOW today
and human triggered avalanches are unlikely.
In upper elevation terrain at and above tree line
there are isolated pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger today on slopes steeper than
about 35 degrees, especially those with both old and recent deposits of wind
drifted snow. A MODERATE
avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.
Mountain Weather:
A moist
westerly flow will continue to slowly sag southward across the northern
intermountain region today and then move through the area late tonight. Expect increasing
clouds during the day with highs at 8,000’ in the low 40’s and at 10,000’ near
freezing. Overnight lows should only reach into the upper 20’s. Winds will be westerly;
gusting into the 30’s at 10,000’ and 40’s at the higher ridge top locations.
Light snow showers and stronger winds should begin to kick in late this
afternoon and by morning there could be an inch or two of new snow. A moist,
though short-lived cold front will reach the Uinta’s late Thursday afternoon
for a decent shot of snow lingering into Friday morning. I’m cautiously
optimistic we should see 8” for a storm total. High pressure returns for the
weekend.
Announcements:
Come join us for a star studded fundraising ride on
Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here
for more details.
I want to thank the crew at Tri-City Performance in
Springville along with Polaris and the Utah Snowmobile Association for
partnering with the avalanche center and stepping up to the plate by providing
a new sled for this season! Click
here, to
see the new
ride!
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.
.