The avalanche danger is mostly MODERATE with CONSIDERABLE danger on any steep slope with recent wind deposits and also a CONSIDERABLE danger of wet avalanches on any steep slope as it heats up in the sun.

Wow, what a snow storm, one of the largest of the winter---so far. The National Weather Service has a nice map of storm totals. The largest numbers are 41 inches in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, along the Park City ridgeline and in the Logan area mountains. About half that amount fell in the Ogden area mountains. It appears that only 8 inches fell in the Provo area mountains. Yesterday, on slopes less than 30 degrees, we had to break trail going downhill too. Today, it should have settled out significantly. Winds were very strong yesterday and we had some northeast winds last night as the storm exited. Although they were not quite as strong in the Wasatch Range, there were gusts to near 90 last night at Lofty Peak, a high elevation weather station in the Uinta Mountains. So there is likely some wind damage in many areas this morning.

Yesterday, it was quite active early in the morning with naturals and widespread, soft slabs with control work at the resorts but they seemed to settle out quickly. The backcountry was much quieter and there was much less natural activity than everyone expected, which is always better than the other way around. A couple very experienced skiers triggered a soft slab, in Wilson Fork near Gobbler’s knob and one person dug into the bed surface to avoid being carried down while the other was below in an island of safety. It was on 39-40 degrees on a north facing slope about 8800’ about a foot deep and over 100’ wide. I was also able to intentionally trigger a similar, shallow, soft slab about a foot deep along the Park City ridgeline. Other photos from Reynolds Peak.

Today and Saturday should be sunny with the daytime high just under freezing on the ridge tops and close to 40 degrees on Saturday. Ridge top winds will remain light from the north and northwest. On Sunday, we should have a sharp cold front with more snow and wind, and another storm on Wednesday and more storms lined up after that. As usual, spring is the best time for powder.

Our web site is now formatted for iPhone. You can also download a free iPhone application from Canyon Sports to display the Bottom Line. Search for Utah Avalanche on the Apple's iPhone Apps page or in iTunes.

Beacon training parks are up and running! There is one at Snowbasin, one on the Park City side at the top of Canyon’s gondola toward the Tombstone lift, one in Little Cottonwood near the Snowbird parking structure on the bypass road, and in Big Cottonwood a training park is at the west end of Solitude's lower parking lot.

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UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

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Your snow and avalanche observations can save someone’s life. Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

Brett Kobernik will update this advisory by 7:30 tomorrow morning.