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

saturDAY february 24, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Sunday February 25, 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 Saturday, February 24, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 am. Regularly scheduled 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 CONTINUED FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF UTAH INCLUDING THE WESTERN UINTA’S. STRONG WINDS AND SNOW HAVE OVERLOADED A DEEPLY BURIED WEAK LAYER, CREATING A CONSIDERABLE TO HIGH AVALANCHE DANGER AND PEOPLE SHOULD STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDERNEATH STEEP SLOPES. ALSO, PEOPLE WITHOUT GOOD AVALANCHE AND ROUTE FINDING SKILLS ARE URGED TO STAY OUT OF THE BACKCOUNTRY THIS WEEKEND.

 

Current Conditions:

Storm totals vary greatly from north to south with accumulations in the 6”-14” range and new snow densities averaging 6%. Areas from about Trial Lake north have received the Lions share of the storm. Light snow showers are still falling in the wake of yesterday’s system, though a clearing trend should begin to develop in the next few hours. Winds blew strong yesterday and overnight, out of the north, northwest and northeast averaging 25 mph, gusting to 40 mph along the ridges. They’ve quieted down and are now in the10-20 mph range. Temperatures are right around 6 degrees at 10,000’ and near 10 degrees at 8,000’.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

If you tease a good dog long enough… it’ll bite, and right now our snowpack has had it’s tail pulled ever since Thursday’s hurricane force winds blew into town, sending the area into a natural avalanche cycle. The hard, dense slab that was created by all the strong south and southwest winds late last week are now covered over with light fluffy snow. The hidden hard slab will feel strong and stable underneath your sled, board or skis, luring you well out onto a slope, before the weak sugary facets fail and you trigger a large dangerous avalanche. The tricky part of the equation is you’ll be able to ride some steep slopes and not trigger deep avalanches, luring you further into the avalanche dragons den, giving you a false sense of confidence about the snowpack. Another fly in the ointment is the possibility of triggering avalanches from a distance and on low angle slopes. Even if you’re playing in low angle terrain today you’ll need to be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to you.

I know we’ve all been powder starved this winter and last years stable snowpack is still in a lot of people’s memories. Remember- this year is much different and we have an unusually weak, fragile snowpack. In order to come home safely, we’ll need to think out the box and not get lulled into a feeling of complacency thinking the avalanche accident will happen to the other guy. Sunny skies and new snow can be an intoxicating combination, but it’s conditions just like today’s that turn out to be a lethal cocktail. Avalanches triggered today have the possibility of being large and unsurvivable.

 

Bottom Line:

At upper elevations the avalanche danger is HIGH on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Both human triggered and natural avalanches are likely. 

At mid elevations the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent wind drifts and human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanches possible.

 

Mountain Weather:

A ridge of high pressure builds for a brief time over the region today giving us mostly sunny skies and light winds. Highs today at 8,000’ will be in the mid 20’s and at 10,000’ in the upper teens. Overnight lows are expected to be in the mid teens. Another storm system slides into the region tonight with increasing southwest winds and light snow developing late in the evening. A shot of snow should hit the area on Sunday with 4”-6” expected then clearing for Monday with another system possible midweek.

 

Announcements:

I completed a preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday Feb.17th in Buck Basin and it can be found here. Also there have been a number of close calls and unintentionally human triggered avalanches across the state in the past few days and pictures with descriptions of the events can be found here.

 

We finally got the Windy Peak weather station up and running. Click here for current conditions.

 

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 the 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 Sunday February 25,2007.

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

1-888-999-4019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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