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.

special avalanche advisory

friday march 2, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Saturday March 3, 2007.

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, March 2, 2007 and it’s about 9:30 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 issued for the Wasatch and Western Uinta mountains of northern Utah.  Heavy snow and strong winds have created a HIGH avalanche danger, with both natural and human triggered avalanches likely.  An elevated avalanche danger will persist through the weekend.

Current Conditions:

At least a foot of new snow has fallen overnight and winds have been gusting into the 50’s and 60’s at the upper elevations for the past 30 hours.

Avalanche Conditions:

It’s been a very active week for avalanches in the western Uinta Mountains and with good visibility Wednesday we got to see just how widespread the natural avalanche cycle was. While many steep slopes throughout the range avalanched naturally, some up to 400’ wide, there are still plenty of slopes that hang in the balance. Avalanches triggered within the new snow have the possibility of breaking into deeper buried weak layers, creating an unsurvivable avalanche. In addition, avalanches may be triggered from a distance on flat terrain, so you’ll want to stay out from under steep slopes.

Bottom Line:

Today there is a HIGH avalanche danger on any slope approaching 35 degrees or steeper with recent deposits of dense, wind blown snow, especially slopes facing northwest, north, northeast, east and southeast above about 8,000’.  High danger means both human triggered and natural avalanches are likely. Both new snow slides and deep, unsurvivable slides breaking to the ground can be triggered by people.  People without excellent avalanche skills should avoid backcountry travel today. 

Mountain Weather:

A cold moist northwest flow will keep moderate to heavy snow going in Utah's northern mountains this morning. A weak cold front will push through the area about mid morning and snow will turn showery behind this front...then gradually taper off through the afternoon. Strong winds at the highest elevations will also decrease through the afternoon. High pressure will build into the area tonight through Saturday then shift east Sunday. This will bring dry weather with a strong warming trend through the weekend. Weak systems in a mild westerly flow will cross the area next week.

Announcements:

I completed a preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday Feb.17^th 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 Saturday March 3, 2007.

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

1-888-999-4019.

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