Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - March 11, 2018 - 4:22am
bottom line

In 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. Any avalanche breaking into weak layers of snow, now buried deeper in our snowpack will quickly ruin your day.

LOW avalanche danger exists on mid and lower elevation, wind sheltered terrain and on most slopes facing the south half of the compass.
current conditions

A storm to our south, pumped clouds into the region overnight. Currently, under mostly cloudy skies temperatures are in the teens and low 20's. East and northeast winds are blowing in the 20's along the high ridges. Riding and turning conditions are a mixed bag. Sunny slopes are crusted and may not soften entirely today but I think you'll still find patches of soft snow on mid elevation, wind sheltered, shady slopes.

Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake along with winds and temperatures from Lofty Lake Peak 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

Three significant human triggered avalanches this week-

Tuesday in Chalk Creek​

Wednesday in Humpy Creek

Thursday in Upper Weber Canyon

The recent avy activity we've looked at have a few common themes- they're breaking after a few people have been on the slope, failing on a mid pack facet/crust sandwich, breaking wider and deeper than you might expect, and piling up large piles of debris. More details are 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

Take a look at the picture above from Wednesday's Humpy Creek slide. Curious that the steep slopes to the lookers left stayed intact, while the nearby slope to the right avalanched. Investigating the slide we found just a little nuance in snowpack structure along with a slight midslope breakover. The 4th rider on the slope was able to knock the legs out from under the slab... yep, these are the characteristics of a persistent slab. Just when you're feeling good about stability... bam! You're staring down the barrel of a scary slide.

In most terrain across the range the pack is happy in its own skin. However, the Uinta's are a big zone and I bet there's still a surprise or two lurking out there today. Prime suspects include terrain that has already avalanched this year along with a vast majority of steep, shady slopes that have remained thin and shallow this winter. Terrain with these characteristics remains sketchy 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. If you're looking for powder and safe riding, simply tone down your slope angles and avoid terrian with steep, wind drifted slopes hanging above you.
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

Not particularly widespread, there might be a rogue drift or two that remains reactive to the additional weight of a rider. Stiff wind slabs are most prevalent on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. Today's hard slabs are gonna be a bit stubborn, but once triggered, can potentially break deeper and wider than you might expect and are gonna pack a punch. You can ride safely today by looking for and avoiding fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.
weather

A storm system continues to cross southern Utah today which keeps clouds rolling through the north. High temperatures climb into the upper 30's and overnight lows dip into the low 20's. Warm and sunny weather is on tap for Monday and Tuesday with strong southerly winds developing Tuesday night ahead of a mostly dry cold front. Not much going on in the weather department until the end of 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 March 12th, 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.