Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Monday - March 19, 2018 - 3:26am
bottom line

While not widespread and limited to a small portion of the terrain available to ride today, a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists in upper elevation terrain in the wind zone, above treeline. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on all steep wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass, and particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect.

A MODERATE avalanche danger is found on steep wind drifted slopes in mid elevation terrain and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.

In either case- an avalanche triggered today can quickly get out of hand if it breaks into weak layers of snow, now buried deeper in our snowpack.

Lower elevation, wind sheltered terrain and most slopes facing the south half of the compass offer LOW avalanche danger.
special announcement

We couldn't get out on the snow without the great support from Polaris, Ski Doo, and Arctic Cat as well as KTM and Timbersled. Our local dealers make it happen. Tri-City Performance, Weller Recreation, Northstar's Ultimate Outdoors, Big Pine and Morgan Valley Polaris. We use these machines to monitor the snowpack across the state of Utah. We also use these machines to teach life-saving classes.
current conditions

The big weekend storm has wound down... skies are clear... and Elvis is leaving the stadium, but man it was a good run, deilvering some of the best riding and turning conditions all year. With an additional 3" of ultra-light density snow stacking up overnight, storm totals are just shy of 18" with close to 2' of snow piling up since last Wednesday. Currently, temperatures are in the single digits and northwest winds blow in the teens and low 20's along the high ridges.

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

Mark was in the Mirror Lake environs yesterday and found soft, creamy snow in wind sheltered terrain.

More on his travels along with a great body of recent trip reports, observations, and snow data here.

recent activity

The avalanche in the image above was triggered "remotely" or from a distance on a steep, northeast facing slope in Weber Canyon at about 9,400' in elevation. While pockety and only breaking about 50' wide, the slide broke 2'-4' deep, failing on weak snow close to the ground. Definitely a heads up that our weak snow zones are coming back to life.

A list of recent avalanches is 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

Since the beginning of the storm winds have been all over the compass and have had plenty of light density snow to work with. As a result, fresh drifts formed in unusal locations. While mainly found on the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridgelines, I wouldn't be too surprised to find a fat drift cross-loaded in a gully or at the entrance to a chute. In either case, I bet newly formed drifts are going to be sensitive to the additional weight of a rider. While predictably breaking at or below our skis, board, or sled, today's drifts may pack a little more punch than you expect and they'll be big enough to boss you around. You can easily avoid this avalanche problem by simply steering clear of fat, rounded pillows of snow, especailly of they feel or sound 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

Now for the tricky avalanche problem- the persitent slab and buried weaknesses in the mid and lower portions of the snowpack. The good news is... the big weekend storm wasn't a big wallop of snow or water weight and I think most slopes, particularly where the snowpack is thick, are comfortable in their own skin. The bad news is.... every significant storm that's rolled through the region this season has reactivated our dormant weak layers, especially where the pack remains thin and weak. Additonal bad news alert... in many places we now have an upside down cake or strong snow, resting on top of a weak snow structure.

So that's how we make the sausage. However, I bet you wanna know how to avoid triggering a deep, scary avalanche today. Well, when I'm uncertain about sketchy avalanche dragons, I simply avoid where they live. Steep, mid and upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass are prime suspects as are slopes that already avalanched this season. So here's the exit strategy... if you're looking for soft snow and safe riding, simply tone down your slope angles and avoid terrain with steep slopes hanging above you.

ECT - Extended column test

P - means it propagated a crack across the whole column, a bad sign

21 - It took 21 taps for it to happen. The number of taps is far far less important compared to whether it propagated a crack or not.
weather

High pressure builds for the early portion of the week, giving us partly cloudy skies with temperatures warming into the mid 20's and low 30's by mid week. Northwest winds blow in the 20's along the high peaks. A moist storm system impacts the area during the latter portion of the work 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 Tuesday March 20th, 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.