Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Thursday - February 15, 2018 - 3:05am
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In mid and upper elevation terrain, especially in the wind zone at and above treeline, the avalanche danger is MODERATE. Human triggered avalanches are possible on steep wind drifted slopes, facing the north half of the compass, particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect. Avalanches breaking to weak, midpack facets remain possible in terrain with these characteristics.




special announcement

We still have a few open slots for this weeks Avy Moto 101. Click here for more details and to register.

current conditions

A nice shot of snow developed overnight, quickly stacking up 6"-8" of light denstiy snow across the range. Temperatures are in the teens and single digits and westerly winds are blowing 30-40 mph along the high ridges. Recent storms provided free refills and riding and turning conditions are surprisingly good, particularly on mid elevation, wind sheltered slopes.

Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Chalk Creek along with winds and temperatures from Windy Peak. More remote Uinta weather stations are found here

Ted was on the east side of the range in Millcreek yesterday and found mostly stable snow along with quality riding conditions. In addition to his travels you can also find a great body of recent trip reports, observations, and snow data here.


recent activity



Ted spotted spotted this natural avalanche while looking into Cataract Basin. He commented, "A few days old and not too surprised to see some natural activity in this heavy wind loaded area."

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

Dave Kikkerts image above clearly illustrates yesterday's winds had no problem forming drifts sensitive to the additional weight of a rider. With more snow and wind overnight, todays slabs are gonna be the bigger brother version, breaking deeper and wider than you might expect and will definately boss you around. Found on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies, today you'll want to avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.

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

Mark, Toby, Ted, and Trent were stomping around on the North Slope Tuesday and confirmed the suspicions that it's a tale of two snowpacks on the eastern front and there's plenty of variabilty in depth and strength. Thanks to this crew for the great observation. Their collective insight is found here. The Clif Notes version is- where the pack is deep, it's comfortable in it's own skin, resiliant, can take a thump and may be unreactive... that's good news, suggesting we're trending in the right direction.

Where the pack is shallow, it's weaker and will be more reactive with more snow, wind, water, or our additional weight. Suspect terrain includes slopes that avalanched big earlier this season (think Double Hill, Humpy Drainage, Moffit Basin), along with steep, rocky slopes.

weather

Snow continues for the morning with an additional 4" possible. West and northwest winds blow in the 30's and 40's along the high ridges, decreasing as the day wares on. High temperatures climb into the low 20's with overnight lows near zero under clearing skies. A break in the action for Friday and early Saturday with another system on tap for late Saturday/Sunday.

general announcements

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Friday February 16th, 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.