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 april 7, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Sunday April 8, 2007.

Sunday, April 8th will be the last of our regularly scheduled advisories for the season.

 

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, April 7, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 am. 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.

 

Current Conditions:

High clouds late yesterday afternoon cleared out in early morning hours and in combination with cooler temperatures, we should see another solid snowpack refreeze. Currently, skies are mostly clear, winds light and temperatures in upper 20’s at 10,000’ and in the low 30’s at 8,000’. Winds are light and northwesterly, blowing 5-10 mph at most locations. Even along the high peaks they’re quiet, only blowing in the 10-15 mph range. If you don’t mind a little pavement here and there, riding and turning conditions remain quite good at the upper elevations and you might still be able to find soft snow in sheltered, shady terrain.  

 

Avalanche Conditions:

All is quiet on the eastern front and I think any wind slabs we were concerned about earlier in the week have settled out and are now welded in place. So it’s the same old spring routine- get on the snow early and follow the sun around as it softens the snow surface. East facing slopes will be the first to feel the effects of the strong spring time sun, followed by southeast, south, southwest and finally west. The key to traveling safely in the spring is staying ahead of the game and getting off of and out from underneath steep sunny slopes, especially as they become damp and gloppy. Remember- wet avalanches are usually slow moving, but can pile up huge amounts of debris in terrain traps such as gullies or steep road cuts.

 

Bottom Line:

On most slopes throughout the range the avalanche danger is generally LOW this morning, rising to MODERATE on steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanche are possible. 

 

Mountain Weather:

Today we can expect mostly sunny skies and warm daytime temperatures. Highs at 8,000’ will climb into the mid 50’s and at 10,000’ in the upper 40’s. Winds should be calm, generally out of the northwest, remaining in the 5-15 mph range throughout the day. This afternoon we should see increasing high clouds with maybe a flurry or two this evening as a weak system brushes by the area. Overnight lows under mostly cloudy skies should dip into the high 20’s. Partly cloudy skies with slightly cooler temperatures are slated for Sunday. A few small storms try to break through the ridge early next week, but most of the energy dives to the southern half of the state. There is some hope of a stronger, colder, snow producing storm around Wednesday. I’ll have a better idea of the timing and track for this storm on tomorrow’s advisory.  

 

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 removed the Windy Peak weather station for the season and want to thank Park City Powder Cats for their partnership in helping to maintain the site. We’ll have it up and running in the same location next winter.

 

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 April 8, 2007.

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

1-888-999-4019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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