Lawinenlagebericht

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

  • Hochgebirge
  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 7 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

HEADS UP... dangerous avalanche conditions materialized overnight and we have two distinct avalanche problems today

UNPREDICTABLE-

In the wind zone at mid and upper elevations, CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists on steep slopes facing the north half of the compass, especially those with an easterly component to its aspect. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY, particularly in rocky terrain harboring weak, pre-existing, early season snow near the ground. Remember- any avalanche that breaks to old snow near the ground may quickly get out of hand, resulting in a deep and dangerous slide.

MORE PREDICTABLE-

Expect both new and old wind drifts sensitive to our additional weight along the leeward side of mid elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. In terrain with these characteristics you'll find MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are possible. Keep in mind... winds have been all over the map, loading slopes we generally think of as "wind sheltered". Common theme is- once triggered, today's drifts may break a little deeper and wider than you might expect.

Here's your exit strategy-

Wind sheltered low elevation terrain that held no old snow prior to the Thanksgiving storm generally offers LOW avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are unlikely. South facing terrain and big open meadows with no steep terrain above or adjacent to where you're riding are the ticket.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    3

    Storm snow, water weight, and wind will begin waking up deeply buried, persistent weak layers in our snowpack. I don't think the roof is collapsing just yet, however, this is gonna be the first big test our weak basal layers have experienced since the Thanksgiving storm.

    Now here's the problem... anything "persistent" in a snowpack takes a long time to heal and that's where it gets a little tricky. As the weak layers near the ground grow slightly stronger and get comfortable in their own skin, the snowpack can handle slow, incremental changes. And that means not every slope is teetering on the balance waiting to avalanche. As a matter of fact, you can ride some steep slopes, often without incident, thinking we're good to go, giving us a false sense of snowpack stability. However, all we need to do is find one weakness, maybe around a bush or rock that we can't see buried underneath the snow, collapse the pack, and now we're staring down the barrel of a scary avalanche. The way I'm avoiding this scenario is by simply avoiding the terrain where this setup exists- steep, upper elevation, north facing slopes that harbored snow prior to the big Thanksgiving storm. With plenty of safe options, there's no reason to pull on the avalanche dragons tail.

    But wait... here's the good news. There's a lot of terrain to ride today and not have to deal with unmanageable avalanche conditions, IF you chose slopes that had NO old snow prior to the big Thanksgiving storm.

    Welcome back JG!

    JG was near the Duchesne Ridge Wednesday and his beautifully detailed pit profile above clearly shows our current setup. Click here to view more on JG's travels and to read his very sage advice.

    Meanwhile, I was on the North Slope on Tuesday and though my snowpit stability tests suggest a strengthening snowpack (good news), failures continue to revolve around weak, basal snow (bad news). What this means is... it might be harder to initiate a slide, but the piece of snow you trigger will dangerously break to the ground.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    2

    Winds have been cranking and there's no shortage of snow available to blow around. I expect widespread drifting along the leeward of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. As even more snow stacks up and winds continue blowing, fresh drifts may break slightly wider and deeper than you might expect. Your best bet for avoidance is to simply steer clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it looks chalky or sounds hollow like a drum. In addition, look for and listen to clues like whoomphing sounds or shooting cracks in the snow which are sure signs of unstable conditions.

Special Announcement

Please join me tonight... Friday Dec. 13th at 6:30 for a free avalanche awareness presentation at the Wasatch SAR facility. It's guaranteed to be entertaining, informative, and I'll share safety tips that allow you to rip powder safely and come home to your families at the end of the day.... pretty good deal... huh?

Recent Activity

No new avalanches to report from the eastern front.

Recent avalanche activity and trip reports are found here.

Snow and Weather

This morning-

The first wave of storminess delivered a solid 10" of medium density snow, but I bet a few upper elevation favored areas, register closer to a foot. West and southwest winds have blown steadily for the past 24 hours with hourly averages in the 30's and 40's, gusting to 70 mph along the high peaks. Currently, skies are mostly cloudy and another band of snow is moving into the region early this morning. Temperatures are in the teens and mid 20's. Riding and turning conditions continue improving with each shot of snow, but it's gonna be rugged along the ridges... low angle, wind sheltered slopes are the ticket today.

Future cast-

A few scattered snow showers linger over the region today as a long duration storm continues across the higher terrain of northern Utah. Westerly winds are gonna be a nuisance, blowing in the 30's and 40's, gusting into the 60's along the high peaks. Temperatures climb into the low 30's with overnight lows dip into the mid 20's. Another shot of moisture slides through the region late tonight with the heaviest snow expected Saturday, as colder air begins slowly working its way into the region. The storm winds down late Sunday and storm totals in the two foot range seem reasonable.

Thanks to our great partners at the National Weather Service for providing the graphic above, clearly laying out the timeframe for storminess.

Additional Info

Thanks to the generous support of our Utah ski resorts and Ski Utah, we have discount lift tickets available. All proceeds support the UAC. Get your tickets HERE.

Get one of these cool t-shirts to support the UAC and other avalanche centers across the U.S. INFO

NEW Blog Post - Speeding - A Drift Into Failure Story

General Announcements

The information in this forecast expires in 24 hours, but will be updated by 7:30 AM Saturday Dec. 14th.

This forecast is updated daily by 7:30 AM.

In the mean-time, if you see or trigger an avalanche or just wanna let me know what you're seeing you can reach me directly at 801-231-2170

It'll be a minute or two before we're riding, but while you're waiting....

This is a great time of year to schedule one of our free avy awareness presentations.

You can email me directly [email protected]

The information in this forecast is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.

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