Wasatch
Cache and Uinta National Forests
In partnership with:
Tri-City
Performance, Polaris, the
avalanche advisory
saturday march 10, 2007
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Sunday March 11, 2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
A mild westerly flow over the region brought an inch
of new snow overnight to the upper elevations. Skies are mostly cloudy and
temperatures are in the upper 20’s to low 30’s at the trailheads and along the
ridges. Winds have been steadily blowing out of the west-northwest for the past
24 hours averaging 25 mph with gusts in the low 40’s. The riding and turning
conditions remain quite good on sheltered shady mid and upper elevation slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Today we’ll be dealing
with three distinctly different avalanche problems. First are the new wind drifts
that formed in the past two days and you’ll find these mostly along the leeward
side of upper elevation ridges. They’ll be easy to spot by their fat
pillow-like shape and in some wind exposed locations,
these new slabs could be several feet deep. While mostly manageable in size,
take care one doesn’t knock you off your skis or machine.
The other manageable
avalanche problem will be the danger of wet slides on steep sunny slopes as the
day heats up. Remember- the sun is high in the sky and is beginning to bake many
different aspects. Steep northerly facing terrain at mid and lower elevations are
getting in on the act too, so as the day heats up you’ll want to stay off any
steep sun-exposed slope and avoid terrain traps like gullies and steep road
cuts.
Finally, the last
avalanche problem isn’t so predictable and it’s hardly manageable. While deep, dangerous
hard slabs are becoming more difficult to trigger, the consequences remain just
as deadly. For the most part the snowpack has healed quite well though an occasional
collapse or two has been reported this week, leading me to believe the
avalanche dragon is still lurking out there. The most likely place to trigger a
deep old hard slab would be in steep rocky terrain, where the slab overlays a
shallow weak snowpack.
Bottom Line:
In
upper elevation terrain, at and above tree-line the avalanche danger is MODERATE today on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees
with recent deposits of wind drifted snow and human triggered avalanches are
possible. Be aware that within this
terrain there is a MODERATE danger
of triggering
a deep, dangerous old hard slab especially on steep, rocky upper elevation
slopes with a shallow weak snowpack and large, dangerous human triggered
avalanches are still possible.
The danger of wet avalanches
will increase to MODERATE on steep sun exposed slopes
with daytime heating.
Mountain Weather:
After a few morning snow showers, clouds should
begin to dissipate and a clearing trend will develop. Highs today at 8,000’
will be near 40 degrees and at 10,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows under
clear skies should drop into the mid teens. Winds will become northwesterly and
blow in the 20-30 mph range along the ridges with an occasional gust in the 40’s
at the most exposed mountain top locations. Sunny skies and warm
temperatures are on tap through about mid week.
Announcements:
I completed a
preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday
Feb.17th in
The
I’d like to thank Jim Shea, The Canyons and Colleen
Graham from the Friends of the UAC for all their hard work in making the Know
Before You Go fundraiser such a success!
The first annual western Uinta fundraising ride was
an amazing success with nearly 150 people showing up for the ride alone!
I want to thank the Jim Shea Family Foundation,
Rocky Mountain Sledders, the Wasatch Snowmobile Association and the Utah
Snowmobile Association for all their tireless work in putting the event
together. Thanks again to Team Thunderstruck and the Boondockers
crew for helping out and schooling even the most experienced riders. Also, we
couldn’t have pulled it off if it weren’t for Chad Booth who did an incredible
job as both master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Finally, it wouldn’t have been
possible without the support of everyone who attended… you folks are
awesome!
I want to thank the crew at Tri-City Performance in
Springville along with Polaris and the Utah Snowmobile Association for
partnering with the avalanche center and stepping up to the plate by providing
a new sled for this season! Click
here, to
see the new
ride!
We installed Beacon Basin at the Noblett’s
Trailhead and it’s good to go. I want to thank Doug, Bill, Jared, Brad and
Wally who
unselfishly took time out of their powder day to
help out the riding community… you guys rock!
Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give
me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]
and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
For
avalanche photos click here.
General Information:
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.
I’ll update this advisory by 7:00 am on Sunday
March 11, 2007.
This advisory is also available by calling
1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.