Logan

Drifting from strong west winds in the past couple days has created CONSIDERABLE avalanchedanger in the backcountry. People could trigger dangerous avalanches of wind drifted snow on steep slopes at all elevations. More dangerous conditions exist on drifted upper elevation slopes facing northwest through southeast. Buried persistent weak layers consisting of sugary faceted snow are widespread across the Logan Zone, and the threat of large and deadly avalanches failing on weak snow near the ground is quite real.

• Use extreme caution in the backcountry. Expect unstable snow conditions. Choose safe routes in low angled terrain well out from under and not connected to steeper slopes.
• Continue to stay off and well out from under drifted slopes steeper than about 30 degrees.

We are very sad to report that four skiers were killed in an avalanche in the backcountry in Mill Creek Canyon above Salt Lake City on Saturday. Preliminary Accident Report

The UAC in Logan is offering a Youth BC 101 avalanche class for youth aged 16-20 on Feb 21. For more info and to register, click HERE

Yesterday (2-8-2021), a rider triggered a 4' deep hard slab avalanche in Chubby Hollow, within sight of Hwy 89 and the Bear Lake Overlook. The avalanche did not run very far and did not catch anyone, but illustrates the existing CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger that can be found even in unexpected or unusual places.

Saturday, backcountry skiers remote triggered a 2' deep and 200' wide avalanche on a fairly low angled slope on the shoulder of Swan Peak (or Bridger Peak) above Bear Lake.

With a bit of clearing, large natural avalanches, likely from during the height of Friday's storm, were observed on Chicken Hill in Bunch Grass, the east face of Wilderness Peak in the Gibson Lakes Area in Franklin Basin, a few miles north of the Idaho State Line, in Steep Hollow, just south of Doubletop Mountain or "Gunsight", off the south ridge of Mt. Magog, and near Mt. Elmer in the Mt. Naomi Wilderness.

A fresher, very large natural avalanche, perhaps from Saturday night or early Sunday morning, was observed Sunday (2-7-2021) on Cornice Ridge.

A huge fresh natural avalanche was observed yesterday (2-7-2021) on Cornice Ridge.

*DANGEROUS BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE CONDITIONS EXIST*

Light snow is falling at Beaver Mountain this morning, and there is a trace of new snow. It's 26°F and there is 56 inches of total snow at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel, with 72% of normal SWE. Strong westerly winds drifted tremendous quantities of the fresh snow into avalanche starting zones. West winds are blowing around 20 mph at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station this morning, and drifting will continue today at upper elevations. With widespread layers of preexisting very weak snow, the recent significant increase in load on the fragile snowpack on drifted slopes has created dangerous avalanche conditions in the backcountry.

We went up to Cornice Ridge on 2-8-2021 to check out a large natural hard slab avalanche that occurred overnight Saturday night or early Saturday morning. Wind drifted snow overloaded weak sugary or faceted snow near the ground and tipped the scales before any people could even get out on or under the slope.

Snow is falling in the Bear River Range this morning, and 2 to 4 inches of accumulation is possible today on upper elevation slopes. It will be cloudy today with high temperatures at 8500' around 27°F, continuing 20 mph west winds, and wind chill values as low as -2°F. A cooler and more unsettled weather pattern will develop later in the week, with another round of heavy snow looking likely for Thursday night and Friday.

Do you have the essential avalanche rescue gear (transceiver, probe, and shovel) and do you know how to use them? Watch this video to see how the three pieces of equipment work together. HERE

Please keep practicing with the Beacon Training Park at the Franklin Basin Trailhead. Test yourself and your riding partners. It is free, fun, and easy to use.

Thanks to the generous support of our local resorts, Ski Utah, and Backcountry, discount lift tickets are now available. Support the UAC while you ski at the resorts this season. Tickets are available here.

Visit this website with information about Responsible Winter Recreation by the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation.

EMAIL ADVISORY. If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you subscribe HERE.

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche observations....HERE. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clickingHERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

I will update this forecast by around 7:30 tomorrow morning.

This forecast is from the USDA Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. The forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.