Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Saturday - February 22, 2014 - 5:27am
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In the wind zone at upper elevations, the avalanche danger is HIGH today. Human triggered avalanches are very likely on all steep, wind drifted slopes, particularly those facing the north half of the compass and especially those with an easterly component to their aspect. Once triggered, today's avalanches can break deep and wide, creating a very dangerous slide.

A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger is found at mid elevations and human triggered avalanches are probable on steep, wind drifted slopes.

LOW avalanche danger is found on gentle slopes with no steep terrain above or adjacent to where you're riding.

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current conditions

Skies are partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid teens and low 20's. There's no shortage of westerly winds which continue to blow 30-50 mph along the high peaks. Upper elevation wind exposed terrain is hammered and in many places stripped to the dirt, but lose a bit of elevation and get into sheltered terrain where you'll find soft, creamy snow on mid elevation slopes.

Click here for current winds, temperatures, and snowfall throughout the range.

Click here for trip reports and avalanche observations.
recent activity

This skier triggered avalanche occurred yesterday in Upper Chalk Creek. Helmet cam viddy can be seen here. Breaking 3' deep and several hundred feet wide, had this slide been triggered lower on the slope it could've been a close call.

More avalanche activity is found here.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

One of our colleagues from Colorado wrote this about deep, persistent issues in a snowpack-

It's hard to gain much experience with deep persistent slabs without getting killed. People generally underestimate the size and destructive potential of this type of avalanche, precisely because most people haven't seen many of them. The only effective strategy for managing this avalanche problem is to avoid suspect slopes. Once deep persistent slabs develop, it means you have to rein in your terrain choices, perhaps for the rest of the season. The hard part is that so many people get away with skiing on deep slabs. After all, the odds are in your favor. It really is a game of Russian Roulette. You may have more than 6 chambers (maybe 50 or 100), but there is still a deadly bullet in there. There is very little room for error. If you hit the spot, you're unlikely to walk away from these avalanches and learn your lesson with a close call

This is the kind of avalanche dragon we're dealing with... deep, wide, and dangerous. If the avalanche doesn't kill you, the dense, heavy, blocks of snow will.

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Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Winds have been all over the place, creating fresh drifts not only on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but also getting down into mid and lower elevation terrain as well. Today you'll want to look for and avoid fat, rounded pillows of snow and they may have formed around terrain features like chutes, gullies, and sub-ridges. Once triggered, today's fresh slabs have the possibility to break into weak layers of snow buried deeper in the snowpack, producing a slide that gets quickly out of hand.

The storm snow is well connected and wind drifts are breaking deeper and wider than you might expect.
Avalanche Problem 3
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Cornices have grown ridiculously large and will break back further than you might expect. You'll definitely want to give these boxcar sized monsters the respect they deserve.
weather

A west-northwest flow prevails across the region for the next few days, giving us occasional snow showers and annoying ridgetop winds gusting into the 30's and 40's. Temperatures climb into the mid 20's before dipping into the teens overnight. A weak disturbance will brush the area today with another forecast for Monday night and Tuesday. High pressure follows for Wednesday.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions.   You can call me directly at 801-231-2170, email [email protected], or email by clicking HERE

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]

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The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

I will update this advisory by 7:00 AM on Sunday Feb. 23, 2014