Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Friday - April 14, 2017 - 4:10am
bottom line

While making up for a small percentage of the terrain available to ride in today, at and above treeline in the wind zone, pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger exist. Human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted, leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass.




special announcement

And then, there were two... days that is. This Sunday, April 16th will be the last of the regularly scheduled western Uinta Advisories

current conditions

Yesterday's cold front delivered an inch or two of snow along the high peaks and helped dropped temperatures into the 20's. Southwest winds are a nuisance, blowing in the 40's and 50's with gusts in the 60's along the high peaks.

Above... 24 hour wind data from Lofty Lake Peak (11,186') and current snow depths at Trial Lake (9,992')

Real time temperatures, snowfall and wind for the western Uintas are found here.



Don't get discouraged with a little dry pavement... the Uintas are phat and white. On a go anywhere base, you can still find patches of soft settled snow on upper elevation, northerly slopes.

Snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.

recent activity


Ted found some recent wet avalanches on steep, sun baked slopes in the Whitney Basin... more on his travels here.

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

While our snowpack is stable and generally locked up, I bet there's still a rogue drift or two lurking on a steep gully wall or chute, or perhaps on the north facing side of an upper elevation ridgeline. In any case, today you'll want to continue looking for and avoiding any fat, rounded piece of snow, particularly if it feels or sounds hollow like a drum. Also remember... avalanche conditions can change very rapidly this time of year, especially with the strong springtime sun high in the sky. So, if you're hopping from one drainage to another take a moment or two and reevaluate the conditions before dropping in. And finally, cornices are epically huge and should be avoided.

Today, you might find an outlier like this shallow slab captured in the image above by Sean Zimmerman, whilst on a epic trip last weekend in the Kletting and A1 Peak environs. More on his travels here.

weather

Skies will be mostly sunny, but a colder airmass settles over the area today with highs only reaching into the low 30's. West and southwest winds blow in the 30's along the high ridges. A warming trend is on tap for the weekend.

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 Saturday April 15th.