Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Monday - December 5, 2016 - 3:59am
bottom line

At mid and upper elevations, particularly in the wind zone, the avalanche danger is MODERATE today and human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially shady slopes facing the north half of the compass and terrain with an easterly component to its aspect. Any avalanche breaking into old snow will be deep and dangerous.

The avalanche danger in wind sheltered terrain and on low elevation slopes is generally LOW.
special announcement

Huge thanks to Tyler St. Jeor and the amazing crew at Wasatch County Search and Rescue for organizing and hosting Saturday night's Avy Awareness presentation. Also a big shout out to everyone who attended, especially those of you who generously donated to the UAC. It was great to see the usual suspects, but even more awesome to see lots of new faces looking to stay on top of the Greatest Snow on Earth... thanks for all the support. Click here for more info on our January sled specific avy class and here for the February class.

Heads up- Plowing operations have ceased for Mirror Lake Highway. Wolf Creek Pass is still mostly pavement and access to avalanche terrain is relatively easy. Remember... just cause you can see your rig from a ridgeline doesn't necessarily make the terrain any safer and triggering even a small slide this time of year will reveal stumps, rocks, and general nastiness, easily ruining your day or perhaps your season.

Ted Scroggin photo
current conditions

A nice little shot of snow settled into the region in the past few hours, quickly delivering a North Slope specific 4" of light density snow. Looks like 2" fell on the south half of the range. In either case, the bummer is... west and southwest winds ramped up overnight and are cranking into the 40's with gusts to 60 mph along the high peaks. Temperatures are teens and low 20's and total snow depths have settled to right around 24".

Real time wind, snow, and temperatures for the Uinta's are found here.

Recent observations are found here.

Not a lot of snow falling from those clouds, but just enough to help freshen things up. Excellent early season riding conditions are found on low angle, grassy slopes. Scroggin photo.
recent activity

No recent avalanche activity to report.
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

With plenty of light snow available to move around and winds already cranking, today's main avalanche concern is fresh wind slabs. You'll find these mainly along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but due to the strength of the wind I bet there's a slab or two in mid elevation terrain as well. Easy to detect by their fat, rounded appearance, today's drifts are going to be more cohesive and may break wider and deeper than you might expect. And remember... snow cover remains thin and any slide triggered today has the possibility to uncover stumps, rocks, or deadfall, resulting in an unexpected and possibly traumatic ride.


Test slopes like these give you great information about the snowpack. Tweak a few and see how they're reacting before you get into big terrain.
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

We're off to a good start in the Uinta's and our weak snow issues are isolated to a handful of upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass which retained snow from late September and October. While making up a small portion of the terrain available to ride in, if your travels take you into steep, upper elevation, north facing terrain, remember that any avalanche you trigger has the possibility of breaking into old snow, creating a deep, dangerous slide.

weather

Skies will be mostly cloudy and temperatures don't vary much from where we're at right now, as a cold front continues crossing the area this morning. We might be able to squeeze a couple more inches out of this storm before an afternoon break. Westerly winds remain strong along the ridges, blowing in the 30's and 40's. Overnight lows dive to near zero and another colder storm system slides through the area Tuesday, bringing another round of low density snow. Wednesday is very cold with highs barely cracking into the single digits.
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]

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.

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated on Tuesday December 6th.