Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Saturday - March 18, 2017 - 4:13am
bottom line

With a sub-par refreeze, the avalanche danger quickly rises to MODERATE and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE. As the day heats up, you'll want to get off of and out from under on all steep, sun-exposed slopes. Once triggered, today's wet slides could gouge deeper into the snow, entraining more snow than you might expect.




current conditions

Skies remained clear last night, but temperatures barely dipped into the low to mid 30's. Winds switched to the south early this morning and are blowing 15-25 mph along the high ridges. Riding and turning conditions have taken a bit of a hit and are aspect and elevation dependent. As far as corn harvest futures are concerned... upper elevation sunny slopes are still a bit immature and slightly punchy and I think the surface refreeze won't last too long on low and mid elevation south facing terrain. On the north half of the compass, it's hit or miss, though you'll still find patches of shallow, dense powder on wind sheltered, upper elevation slopes.


Above... 24 hour data from Windy Peak (10,600') and the Trial Lake snotel site (9,992') reflecting a marginal overnight refreeze.

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


Wow... the Uinta's are white and the views... well they're stunning!


The trailheads have taken a bit of a beating this week and getting to the high terrain is brutal before the snow surface loosens up. As far as the date stamp is concerned... Ted borrowed the camera from a guy named McFly :)

Snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.
recent activity



More the exception than the rule... Ted found this couple day old sled triggered pocket on a repeater path of Gold Hill. Not overly huge, but none-the-less a red flag, breaking to the ground on weak, dry facets.

A full list of 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

This morning the snow surface is firm and crunchy, so along with a great deal of patience, you'll definately need to drop the scratchers. However, with a marginal refreeze, strong sunshine, and record breaking temperatures on tap, the snowpack is going to go off early today. If you're looking for soft snow right out of the gates, start off on east or southeast facing terrain and then just follow the sun around, ending on west facing slopes at the end of the day. Remember- this is the time of year when you wanna think about your late in the day, exit strategy. As the snow turns damp, manky, or unsupportable you'll need to get off of and out from under steep, sunny slopes and avoid terrain traps like gullies and road cuts where tree snapping, cement-like debris can stack up very deeply.

More the rule than the execption... Dan found this wet avalanche yesterday on an east facing slope at appoximately 10,000'.
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



This years corni are beautiful and they come in all shapes and sizes, some are larger than others. In either case, these unpredictable pieces of snow are releasing on their own accord and breaking further back than you might expect. Of course, you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of these boxcar-like monsters.

weather

Today we can expect sunny skies, temperatures rising to near 60 degrees, and southwest winds gusting into the 50's along the high ridges. A weak disturbance slides through the region late tonight and tomorrow morning, cooling temperatures somewhat. A change in the pattern is still on tap for late Tuesday with active weather slated through the end of the 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 March 19th.