Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - January 14, 2018 - 4:14am
bottom line

HEADS UP... THESE ARE THE KIND OF CONDITIONS THAT LEAD TO NEAR MISSES, CLOSE CALLS, AND AVALANCHE ACCIDENTS!

In the wind zone at and above treeline the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. 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.

In mid elevation terrain at treeline, you'll find a MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered slides are possible on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

Looking for LOW avy danger? Most mid and low elevation south facing slopes and terrain that held no snow prior to the Christmas Eve storm offer generally LOW avalanche danger.
special avalanche bulletin

THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER IN SALT LAKE CITY HAS ISSUED A BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE SPECIAL BULLETIN.

* TIMING…IN EFFECT THROUGH 9 PM MST MONDAY

* AFFECTED AREA…FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH INCLUDING THE WASATCH RANGE...BEAR RIVER RANGE...UINTA MOUNTAINS.

* AVALANCHE DANGER…THE AVALANCHE DANGER IN THE WESTERN UINTAS REMAINS CONSIDERABLE WHICH MEANS HUMAN TRIGGERED AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY.

* IMPACTS…BEAUTIFUL WEATHER OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND AND RECENT FRESH POWDER SNOW WILL LEAD TO A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN PUBLIC USE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH. SNOWPACK, WEATHER, AND HUMAN CONDITIONS ARE PERFECTLY ALIGNED FOR A POTENTIAL ACCIDENT THIS WEEKEND. MANY SLOPES, ESPECIALLY ONES ABOVE 8000 FT WITH A NORTHERLY THROUGH EASTERLY ASPECT, ONLY NEED A SKIER OR RIDER TO TRIGGER AN AVALANCHE 2-3 FEET DEEP AND SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET WIDE.

BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS SHOULD CONSULT WWW.UTAHAVALANCHECENTER.ORG OR CALL 1-888-999-4019 FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO SKI AREAS WHERE AVALANCHE HAZARD REDUCTION MEASURES ARE PERFORMED.
current conditions

Skies cleared late yesterday and it's a beautiful morning with temperatures in the mid 20's. West and northwest winds blow in the teens and mid 20's. Since Saturday January 6th, the range stacked up close to 24" of snow with nearly 2" of water. While most snow sites are registering just over 3' of settled snow, it's still pretty thin out there, though riding and turning conditions have vastly improved.

Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake along with winds and temperatures from Lofty Lake Peak. More remote Uinta weather stations are found here

Recent trip reports and findings can be seen here.

Trenchtown Rock... Tyler found deep snow, but sketchy snowpack structure near Spring Canyon Friday. More on his travels and insight of the current snow stability setup are found here.
recent activity

Human triggered slides continued to make headline news yesterday on the eastern front. Avalanches were triggered either mid-slope or from a distance. Common denominator- slides are failing in the midpack or close to the ground. The other common theme is steep leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. Click here to see recent avy activity. (Boyer and Slack photos)

Click here for a viddy showing what's going on with our snowpack.
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 there might be a fresh wind drift or two along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, the harder-to-detect, more insidious avalanche dragon are the persistent slabs lurking on steep shady slopes throughout the range. What makes this setup tricky today is, the slab is starting to gain strength and allows you to get onto the slope before it fails. Once you've collapsed the slope, all bets are off and you're staring down the barrel of a scary slide.

So here's what's going on... we finally added enough weight for avalanches to begin breaking into weak layers of snow buried in the mid portion of our snowpack. Problem is, the avalanche danger isn't in your face. You don't look around and see avalanches everywhere. On the contrary... many steep slopes remain in the balance today, just waiting for a trigger like us to roll up and knock the legs out from underneath it. Making the current setup even more tricky is the continued possibility of triggering a slide from low on the slope or from a distance. ​

All of this doesn't mean you can't ride. It does mean you need to stay off of and out from under steep, wind drifted slopes. By now you know the usual suspects to avoid... steep, upper elevation, shady slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass.

The avalanche danger is pretty apparent right out of the gates. A small avalanche like the one pictured above gives me a huge piece of information about the snow stability and the type of avalanche dragon I'm dealing with.
weather


It'll be a beautiful day in the mountains with mostly sunny skies and temperatures warming into the upper 30's. West-northwest winds blow in the 20's along the high ridges. A weak storm is slated for Tuesday with an active weather pattern on tap for late in the week.
general announcements

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Monday January 15, 2018.

If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170

It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.