In partnership with:
Tri-City
Performance, Polaris, the
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Saturday March 10, 2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
Skies remained mostly clear overnight and currently temperatures
are in the mid 20’s. Winds are light and westerly, blowing 10-20 mph along the
ridges. Most sun-exposed slopes have some form of breakable surface crust, but riding
and turning conditions remain quite good on mid and upper elevation shady
slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday, Dave and I
went to take a look at a large human
triggered avalanche which occurred on Saturday, just west of
This wasn’t the only jaw
dropping avalanche we looked at. As a matter of fact our sight seeing tour
began just about a mile or two away from the Noblett’s
Trailhead where we saw avalanche activity from last weeks storm events in
unusually low elevation terrain. In addition, avalanches occurred in terrain I
haven’t seen slide before, like many east
facing slopes across canyon from the Duchesne
Ridge and a few smaller human
triggered slides nearby.
The snowpack is on the
mend and I haven’t heard of any human triggered avalanches in our area since
Saturday. Although this is usually a sign of improving stability, my gut
feeling is we’re not out of the woods quite yet. While it may be harder to
trigger a large avalanche the consequences remain devastatingly huge and the
results… unsurvivable. It’s the Dirty Harry principal and you won’t know
whether there’s a bullet in the chamber until you pull the trigger and it’s too
late. The most likely place to trigger an avalanche today will be in upper
elevation terrain, especially on steep rocky slopes with a weak shallow snowpack.
With cooler temperatures on the way in the next day or two and a little bit of
patience, you’ll be able to get onto the big slopes soon and not have to worry
about bone crushing avalanches.
Bottom Line:
At
mid and upper elevations, at and above tree-line the avalanche danger is
generally MODERATE today on all slopes steeper than
about 35 degrees and human triggered avalanches are possible. Be aware that within this terrain there are pockets
of CONSIDERABLE
avalanche danger especially on steep rocky upper elevation slopes and large,
dangerous human triggered avalanches are probable.
Mountain Weather:
Today we can expect increasing high clouds as the
first in a series of weak storm systems affects our weather through late
Friday. It’ll be sunny and warm for most of the day with highs at 10,000’ in
the mid 30’s and at 8,000’ near 43 degrees. Overnight lows under mostly cloudy
skies dip into the upper 20’s and we might see an inch or two of snow
overnight. Thursday and Friday should be mostly cloudy with scattered snow
showers, though little accumulation. There’s a little better chance of snow as
a stronger system slides through the region late Friday night into Saturday,
then high pressure returns for the latter half of the weekend and into early
next week.
Announcements:
I completed a
preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday
Feb.17th in
We finally got the
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 10, 2007.
This advisory is also available by calling
1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.