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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

In general the avalanche danger is LOW and there's lots of terrain you can ride safely today and not trigger a slide. However, at and above treeline, in the wind zone, the avalanche danger is MODERATE. Human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted slopes.

Here's the outlier- while becoming harder to initiate, human triggered avalanches breaking into deeper, buried weak layers remains a distinct possibility, particularly on steep slopes facing the north half of the compass. Remember- any slide that breaks to old snow will immediately ruin your day.

Lose a little elevation or swing around to slopes with no old snow near the ground and the avalanche danger drops dramatically.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2

    Winds increased yesterday and had plenty of light density snow to blow around and whip up a fresh batch of wind drifts. Yesterday, I found the majority of these drifts forming along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but also around terrain features like chutes and gully walls. Fortunately, they were pretty straight-forward and manageable... predictably breaking at or below my skis and I think this will remain the case again today. However, with more snow and wind on tap for today, as always, be on the lookout for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.

    Pockety and not particularly connected, cracking out in front of my skis yesterday was a big red flag to potentially unstable snow.

    Road cuts and small slopes similar to the kind of terrain you want to ride are great "test slopes".... meaning, if you trigger a small slide the consequences are negligable. While I'm riding, I gather a lot of information by stomping on slopes with these characteristics and see how they react before I decide to get into big, committing terrain.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    3

    The small pocket of snow pulled out near Wolf Creek Pass Tuesday indicates that in the right place and in the right terrain, you could still release a piece of snow that breaks to weak layers near the ground. In the big picture, I think this is a fairly isolated event and recent snowpit stability tests combined with the overall lack of avalanche activity suggests the pack feels pretty comfortable in its own skin... and that's good news. However- "persistent weak layers" in the snowpack are a headache because they remain problem children for long periods of time. And 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 getting worked by a large piece of moving of snow. The usual suspect terrain comes to mind- steep, rocky slopes with a shallow snowpack, outlying terrain with a thin, weak snowpack, and slopes that already avalanched earlier this year. So the way I'm avoiding this scenario is by simply avoiding the terrain where this setup exists.... mid and upper elevation, north facing slopes that harbor weak, early season snow near the ground.

    Steep, rocky, with a thin snowpack... complex terrain like in the image above is the kind of place where you could trigger a slide that breaks to weak snow near the ground.

Recent Activity

The only activity from the past few days is this small pocket that was triggered Tuesday in steep, rocky terrain near Wolf Creek Pass. Thanks to Jacob for the info and for the image.

Snow and Weather

Yet another weak, albeit colder storm is on the doorstep and it should begin to slide through the region later this morning. In the mean time... man it's cold outside with current temperatures hovering in the single digits and northwest winds blowing in the mid 20's along the high peaks. Wind chill values on exposed ridges register right around -16 degrees. Since last Friday night we've stacked up nearly a foot of new snow and while some of our upper elevation wind exposed terrain is a bit worked over, excellent soft settled snow is found on wind sheltered, mid elevation terrain.

Above is recent hourly data from Trial Lake (9,945') along with wind data from Windy Peak (10,662'). To view more regional weather stations click here.

Plowing is done on Mirror Lake Highway, but Wolf Creek Pass is still open. The steep slopes surrounding the pass have seen some atypical winds and have unusual loading patterns. Remember- just 'cause you can see your rig parked near Wolf Creek, doesn't mean the terrain you're choosing to ride is good to go. So, if you are getting out and about, be prepared for your own self rescue. Wear and know how to use an avalanche beacon, shovel, and probe.

Additional Info

A cold storm delivers a couple inches of very light density snow to the region today through tonight. High temperatures barely squeak into the low teens and northerly winds blow in the 20's and 30's along the high peaks. Light snow continues through tonight with overnight lows dipping into the single digits. Brief high pressure builds for late Friday and Saturday with another storm sliding into the area Sunday.

General Announcements

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Friday December 28th, 2018.

If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170

It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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