Avalanche forecast

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Note to self... I suspect avalanche danger is potentially a degree more elevated on the south half of the range from Wolf Creek to Currant Creek where the snowpack is thinner.

While not widespread, pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger are found on steep, wind drifted, mid and upper elevation slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass. Likely suspect terrain includes rocky slopes where the snowpack is thin and human triggered avalanches, breaking up to 4 feet deep and wider than you might expect are POSSIBLE. Remember... any slide that fails on old snow near the ground can instantly ruin our day.

My exit strategy... I'm steering clear of avalanche terrain and polar slopes steeper than about than 30° and instead, gunnin' and runnin' for low-angle, wind sheltered slopes with no overhead hazard.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2

    On Sunday, a solo rider triggered this persistent slab avalanche from below and was caught, carried, but walked away clean -- Check it out, more deets here.

    Here's the wind up... it's not the snow we're riding in that's the problem, it's the snow we're riding on. Remember, early season snow turned persistent weak, sugary layer now lurks 2-4 feet beneath a supportable, cohesive slab, and now much of our pack is tied together by a Christmas Eve rain crust with seemingly harmless, low density snow on top. Now the pitch... adding a curve ball to the mix, the snowpack feels bomber under our skis, board, or sled but it's not. In fact, all we need to do is find a shallow spot, like around a bush or rock where we can punch through the slab, irritate the weak layer and collapse the slope, and now the entire roof is crashing down on us. See this setup for yourself as the proof is in the structural powder-pudding recipe. Pull out your shovel or trench your track down and you'll for sure see a dense, strong slab sitting above weak, old, faceted snow near the ground.

    I'm taking Andy's advice from his forecast yesterday and paying particular attention to, and avoiding heavily wind-loaded slopes that have a very dense and supportable slab sitting atop, early season, weak layers. Becoming more the exception than the rule, we can still trigger today's avalanches remotely or from a distance, meaning we don't have to be directly on the slope to trigger the slide. Persistent slab's are not manageable with ski or side-hill sled cuts, and avoidance is the go-to tool.

    Shaun was out in Shingle Mill area yesterday and reported that although its heading in the right direction, weak and faceted snow is still the main player of our avalanche hazard.

Recent Activity

No new avalanche activity to report, but Weston D was in the Wolf Creek hood yesterday and noted shooting cracks out in front of his machine along with a handful of audible collapses or whumphs.

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Snow and Weather

Nowcast - A band of high, thin clouds drifts through the region at o'dark thirty, as a growing Wolf Moon wags its tail, anxiously waiting in the wings to shine its bright light and kick off the weekend. Near the high peaks, winds blowing 5-15 mph from the north barely spin remote weather station anemometers. High pressure is sliding to the east while a notable temperature inversion remains in place as temperatures register in the mid 30's °F along the ridges and bottom out in the low 20's °F near the trailheads. It's still low tide, but riding and turning conditions are excellent.

Forecast - Look for mostly sunny skies for a good portion of the day with high temperatures climbing into the upper 30's °F. Winds veer to the southwest late in the day, bump into the 20's and 30's near the high peaks, ushering in a thickening band of clouds.

Futurecast - A warm, moist system slips into the Uinta zone for New Years Day, delivering a nice reset for the eastern front. I'm thinking 5-10 inches of snow with .75-ish inches of H2O, before a break on Friday and Saturday. More storminess in the queue for late in the weekend into early next week.

Travel Conditions - Snow depths range from 2-4 feet across the range and the Uinta's are getting whiter. The Christmas Eve raincrust is keeping you off the ground, delivering a mostly supportable base. Solar slopes have taken on heat, but mid and upper elevation polars are still cold and firing. Four-wheeled vehicle access to Mirror Lake Highway (HW150) is shut down, while SR-35 (Wolf Creek Pass) remains open.

It's wheelie good out there as the weekend storm significantly improved spirits.

Low-angle, upper elevation, north facing meadows with no overhead hazard are the ticket, providing deep and supportable turning.

Ted was on the east side of the range near Whiskey Creek and found good riding, acceptable coverage, and a quiet snowpack.

Additional Info

This fleet can't be beat! Huge thanks to Ski-Doo in partnership with Karl Malone's Plaza Cycle, for arranging our sled, loaner program. This vital state-wide partnership gets sleds into the hands of UAC forecasters, allowing us to see more terrain, gather more snowpack information, and issue more accurate avalanche forecasts. Ultimately, this program helps us save lives!

General Announcements

We have some upcoming classes and events that we would be stoked to see you at -- Please reach out with any questions and check out below for more details!

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We are always looking for snow and avalanche observations or just general riding conditions. Reach out to us with questions, concerns, or if you see anything in your travels! Contact us directly through the info below:

This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions, and local variations always occur. This forecast was issued on Wednesday, December 31st at 0400 AM and expires 24 hours after it was issued. We'll update this information by 07:00 AM tomorrow.

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