Uintas

Problemi valanghivi

• 

  Wind Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Alta quota
  • Limite del bosco
  • Sotto il limite del bosco

  Probabilità

  Possible

  Dimensione

  2

  Yesterday's east and northeast winds cranked into the 40's and 50's along the high ridges. Not only is that a peculiar direction for us, it was also a multi-hour, sustained wind event. With no shortage of snow available for transport, fresh batches of wind drifted snow are gonna be today's most obvious avalanche problem, but here's the wild card.... they formed in unusual locations and on slopes we normally see stripped by the wind. So for today, I think we'll find the vast majority of fresh drifts lurking along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but due to sustained strong winds, I bet slabs formed a little lower downslope than we usually experience. In addition, look for recent drifts cross-loaded around terrain features like chutes and gully walls. And here's yet another wild, wild card... I think drifts will be deeper, break wider, and will pack more of a punch than you might expect. As always, look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. Remember- cracking out in front of your skis, board, or sled are big red flags to 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 negligible. 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

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Alta quota
  • Limite del bosco
  • Sotto il limite del bosco

  Probabilità

  Unlikely

  Dimensione

  3

  Mark was in the Iron Mountain zone Saturday and succinctly describes the setup he observed as well as what we might expect for the future.

  While remaining relatively quiet for the past few weeks, additional loading from recent winds may help to bring dormant weak layers back to life. Remember- "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, periphery terrain which harbors 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.

  Weston was in Smith-Moorehouse Sunday and got this piece of snow to slump, failing on weak snow near the ground. He describes the setup as, " A steep rollover, cohesion less snow, a bit shallower than other spots and rocks underneath. "

  Above, Currant Creek Peak clearly illustrates the type of terrain that Weston described, only on a grander scale. Steep, rocky slopes, 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.