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.

  

 

 

Avalanche ADVISORY

sunDAY february 11, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated on Wednesday February 14, 2007.

 

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 Sunday, February 11, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 in the morning. Avalanche advisories for the western Uinta’s are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays and are brought to you in partnership with Utah State Parks and Recreation.

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 801-231-2170, or email at [email protected] and fill me in with all the details. 

 

AN AVALANCHE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH, INCLUDING THE WESTERN UINTA’S, FOR TODAY THROUGH MONDAY. HEAVY SNOWFALL AND MODERATE TO STRONG WINDS HAVE LEAD TO UNSTABLE AND DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS SHOULD AVOID BEING ON OR UNDERNEATH STEEP SLOPES.

 

Current Conditions:

Finally… a storm! It began snowing around 8:00 last night and new snow totals are enthusiastically surprising. Trial Lake faired well with nearly 10”, followed by Chalk Creek at 7” and about 3” of wet glop fell at the trailheads. Snow densities are averaging 10%. A warm, moist southwest flow has kept temperatures quite mild overnight and currently it’s 28 degrees at 10,000’ and 31 degrees at 8,000’. Winds have been out of the west-southwest all night, blowing steadily at 25 mph with gusts in the low 40’s. They switched to the northwest at 3:00 this morning and have died down into the 10-20 mph range.    

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Our fragile snowpack got walloped last night by heavy dense snow coupled with strong winds. Just like the Ali-Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” this one-two punch has the snowpack reeling, bringing it to its knees. I’d suspect that many steep slopes throughout the range couldn’t withstand the rapid load and have naturally avalanched, while others wait for a rider to come along and tip the balance. Here’s the setup- our snowpack is shallow and weak, consisting of sugary facets having very little strength. This persistent weak layer is notoriously tricky and we have the perfect setup to trigger dangerous avalanches. Avalanches triggered today will be large and quite possibly unsurvivable.  

If you’re getting out today you’ll need to avoid being on or underneath steep slopes and pay attention to indicators of unstable snow. Remember- cracking within the snowpack and collapsing or whoomphing noises are big clues, but the biggest clue to unstable snow is natural avalanches. In addition, it may be possible to remotely trigger avalanches from a distance and on relatively flat terrain. Even if you’re playing on low angle slopes, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to you.

 

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is HIGH today on all slopes approaching 35 degrees in steepness, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A HIGH avalanche danger means avalanches will occur with both human and natural triggers and backcountry travel is not recommended.

 

Mountain Weather:

A break in the action this morning will give us mostly cloudy skies and scattered snow showers, but the next system is already onshore and should get things going again by late afternoon. This re-enforcing shot of cold air will give us an additional 4”-7” of snow overnight. Winds will blow out of the west-southwest at 15-25 mph along the ridges. They should increase late this afternoon and become more westerly, gusting into the 60’s along the high ridgelines. Temperatures will remain mild today with highs at 8,000’ in the mid 30’s and at 10,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows dip into the low to mid 20’s. A ridge builds for Monday giving us partly cloudy skies and another system tries to nose its way into the region Tuesday, but right now looks like it’ll dive into the central and southern portions of the state.    

 

Announcements:

I’d like to thank Jim Shea, The Canyons and Colleen Graham from the Friends of the UAC for all their hard work in making last Friday night’s Know Before You Go fundraiser such a success!

 

The first annual western Uinta fundraising ride was an amazing success with nearly 150 people showing up for the ride alone!

I want to thank the Jim Shea Family Foundation, Rocky Mountain Sledders, the Wasatch Snowmobile Association and the Utah Snowmobile Association for all their tireless work in putting the event together. Thanks again to Team Thunderstruck and the Boondockers crew for helping out and schooling even the most experienced riders. Also, we couldn’t have pulled it off if it weren’t for Chad Booth who did an incredible job as both master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Finally, it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of everyone who attended… you folks are awesome!  

 

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!

 

We installed Beacon Basin at the Noblett’s Trailhead and it’s good to go. I want to thank Doug, Bill, Jared, Brad and Wally who

unselfishly took time out of their powder day to help out the riding community… you guys rock!

 

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 7:00 am on Wednesday February 14,2007.

This advisory is also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or

1-888-999-4019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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