Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Saturday - January 7, 2017 - 4:08am
bottom line

While making up a small portion of the terrain available to ride in, at and above treeline in the wind zone, pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exist. Dangerous, human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass, and particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect. Once triggered, today's avalanches have the potential to break deep and wide and can get out of hand quickly, resulting in a dangerous avalanche.

You'll find a MODERATE avalanche danger on steep wind drifted slopes at mid elevations and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.

There are plenty of safe options out there today. Most south facing slopes and low angle terrain, like big, open meadows, with no steep slopes above or adjacent to where you're riding offer LOW avalanche danger.




current conditions

Skies remained clear most of the night and southwest winds starting bumping into the 15-25 mph range around 7:00 last night. As warm air filters into the region, temperatures have risen by nearly 15 degrees in the past 24 hours and currently register in the low single digits. Five star riding conditions are found nearly everywhere, especially on low angle, mid elevation, wind sheltered slopes and meadows.

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

Snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.

recent activity


No news of the weird from Friday, but Thursday morning, a very experienced backcountry rider got surprised and unintentionally triggered this 2' deep x 250' wide avalanche on Hoyt Peak. He was caught and carried, but fortunately came out unscathed and on top. We are grateful that a key player in our tribe wasn't injured. An excellent write up and humbling reflection is found here.

A full list of recent Uinta 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

The region experienced a fairly widespread natural avalanche cycle during the mid week storm with avalanches predictably breaking a couple feet deep, yet unpredictably breaking several hundred feet wide. The good news is many steep, upper elevation, leeward slopes avalanched naturally. The bad news is many of these same slopes still hang in the balance waiting for a trigger like us to come along. While the vast majority of wind slabs have relaxed and won't be nearly as sensitive as the past few days, there's still gonna be a few pockets remaining that'll be reactive to our additional weight... and triggering one of these can easily ruin our day. It doesn't mean I can't ride... it does mean I'll want to steer clear of steep, wind drifted terrain and be on the look out for and avoid any rounded, fat, pillows of snow, especially if they feel or sound hollow like a drum. Tweaking a couple of road cuts to see how they're reacting gives me solid information, helping me decide where to ride safely today.


A little coaxing on a steep, wind drifted slope yesterday, knocked the legs out from this slab resulting in a piece of snow that was packing a punch! (Kikkert photos)

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

The latest storm came in warm, wet, and windy, stressing the snowpacks weak layers and putting it to the test. While a few steep slopes avalanched naturally and broke into weak snow within our pack, these slides were pockety and not widespread... and that's a good sign. Sure, many slopes are getting comfortable in their own skin, but I'm not willing to bet my life on just a few pieces of information and I think any steep, rocky, upper elevation slope facing the north half of the compass is guilty until proven otherwise.


In the image above, a natural avalanche triggered near the ridge line crashed down on the slope below, knocking out two smaller pockets. Of note, the smaller slides broke into old snow, and all this debris stacked up very deeply in this gully or what we call a terrain trap.

weather

Today we can expect increasing clouds as a moist southwest flow materializes late today and continues into Monday. Temperatures rise into the mid 20's, southwest winds ramp up into the 30's and 40's, and snow develops tonight. A few inches of snow is forecast for tonight, coupled with southwest winds cranking into the 60's along the high ridges. Warm, moist snow continues to stack up on Sunday before colder air arrives Monday afternoon and snow densities decrease. Storm totals for this first system should be in the 12"-18" range. An active weather pattern remains across the region through the upcoming week.

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 by 7:00 AM on Sunday January 8th.