Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Tuesday - January 23, 2018 - 2:54am
bottom line

In the wind zone at and above treeline the avalanche danger is MODERATE. Human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass. Once triggered, today's avalanches can quickly get out of hand if they break into weak layers of snow now buried several feet deep in our snowpack.

Most mid and low elevation, especially south facing slopes offer generally LOW avalanche danger.
current conditions

A weak cold front sliding through the region yesterday delivered close to 3" of light, chin tickeling snow. Currently, skies are cloudy, temperatures in the teens and single digits, and southwest winds are blowing 15-25 mph along the high peaks. The weekend storm was good to the eastern front, delivering 18" of Utah, uber-fluff. Today's continued hot ticket- avoid the big, open bowls which are a bit wind jacked and hit low angle, wind sheltered terrain instead... it might not be quite over-the-hood today, but it's pretty darn good none-the-less.

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

Bo and Andrew were in Chalk Creek Sunday and reported 5 star riding conditions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, downtown Chris Brown was stomping around Weber Canyon and posted his snowpit findings. In either case, there's a great body of recent travels and insights, along with a string of trip reports can be seen here. (Torrey/Nassetta photo)


recent activity

Most backcountry observers found shallow wind drifts and sluffing on steep slopes throughout the range. While less widespread and probably not quite as sensitive, look for a similar flavor today.

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

Winds have been all over the place and they've got plenty of light density snow to work with, whipping the weekend storm snow into drifts sensitive to our additional weight. Newly formed pillows of snow are mostly found on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but I suspect you'll also find a cross-loaded pocket or two around terrain features like chutes and gullies. Look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. On steep, wind drifted slopes, today's slabs can break deeper and wider than you might expect and will easily boss you around.

Pretty easy to detect, most recent wind loading is occurring on steep, leeward slopes at and above treeline.
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

Trickier and harder to detect is the possibility of triggering an avalanche that breaks into weak layers of snow, now buried deeper in our snowpack. There's a few variables out there right now, but what I do know is... we have a complex snowpack and this seasons history reveals that each time it snows, weak layers in our midpack wake up and we see a string of human triggered slides. While this storm didn't stack up huge water numbers, it did produce fairly strong winds late Friday which created a solid feeling, cohesive slab. Problem is... the snowpack will allow us to get well out onto the slope before it fails. Once triggered, a slide breaking into weak layers of snow now buried in our midpack, will quickly get out of hand and instantly ruin our day. The most likely suspects are steep, wind drifted slopes facing north half of the compass. Since this avalanche dragon is unpredictable, the best offense is a good defense... you simply avoid it. Swing around to lower elevation south facing slopes or choose low angle terrain with no steep slopes above or adjacent to the slopes your riding.

Click here to see how this slab is reacting to our additional weight.
weather


High pressure builds for today and Wednesday, resulting in rapidly warming temperatures. Highs reach into the 30's and westerly winds blow in the 20's along the high ridges. Winds increase Wednesday ahead of a fast moving storm system slated to impact the area Thursday into Friday.
general announcements

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