Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - February 25, 2018 - 4:08am
bottom line

Heads up- the avalanche danger might be slightly more pronounced from about Trial Lake to Strawberry.

In upper elevation terrain, especially in the wind zone at and above treeline, the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep wind drifted slopes, facing the north half of the compass, particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect. An avalanche triggered today can quickly get out of hand if it breaks into weak layers of snow, now buried deeper in our snowpack.

MODERATE avalanche danger exists at mid elevations and human triggered avalanches are possible on steep wind drifted slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

Lose some elevation or switch aspect and you'll find LOW avalanche danger on lower elevation, wind sheltered terrain and on most slopes facing the south half of the compass.
current conditions

Snow started falling just after midnight and so far it looks like 3" of light density fluff stacked up. Under mostly cloudy skies, temperatures have warmed somewhat, but still hover near zero. Westerly winds increased last night right around dinner time and have been blowing steadily in the 30's and 40's along the high ridges. There's some wind damage in our big, open upper elevation bowls, but lose a little elevation and head to wind sheltered terrain and you'll be treated to some of the best riding and turning conditions all year.

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

You can find a great body of recent trip reports, observations, and snow data here.


recent activity


Weston and Shaun were in Smith-Moorehouse yesterday and triggered this thick wind slab pictured above. (More on this avalanche here.)

Micheal J was up the road in Weber Canyon and triggered this pocket from a distance. More on his travels 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

Where the snowpack is deep, it's comfortable in its own skin and is quite resiliant... and that's good news. However, we don't trigger dangerous avalanches where the pack is thick and strong, we trigger them where the pack is shallow and weak. So here's the deal... dormant weak layers in the snowpack are starting to come to life as new storm snow stacks up. Since last Sunday an active storm pattern has added close to 2' of snow to our snowpack and terrain that harbors weak snow is starting to come to life. What makes this scenario tricky is you can ride plenty of slopes and not trigger a slide. However, terrain that has already avalanched this year along with a vast majority of steep, shady slopes on the south half of the range remain suspect and should be considered guilty until proven otherwise. Sounds complicated, but the answer is easy. The way we manage unpredictable avalanche dragons is to simply avoid where they live. So today you'll want to steer clear of steep, rocky, wind drifted slopes, especially if they've got a "trapdoor" or punchy feeling.

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

Wind is always the big game changer for the eastern front and with no shortage of light density snow to blow around, fat drifts sensitive to our additional weight started forming late in the day. Today will be tricky because yesterday's slabs are now concealed with fresh snow, making them harder to detect. In addition, wind drifts are starting to pack a punch and could definately ruin your way once triggered. So, it's not completely straight-forward and today you'll want to gather as much information as possible. Be on the lookout for clues to unstable snow such as shooting cracks. In addition, tweak small test slopes like road banks and see how they're reacting before getting into steep, commiting terrain. And finally, consider avoiding fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.

Crackes shooting out in front of you are a huge red flag and solid clue of unstable snow.
weather

A couple more inches of snow is expected, but snowfall tapers off by late morning. It'll be cold with high temperatures in the mid teens. Clouds thicken and southwest winds increase overnight ahead of an approaching storm which crosses the area Monday night into Tuesday. A bit of a midweek break and then a slow moving storm system is expected to impact the area next weekend.
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 February 26th, 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.