We've completed the report on last Saturday's tragic avalanche in the backcountry in Mill Creek Canyon above Salt Lake City that killed four skiers.
Final 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
HEREHeavy snow is falling in the Logan Zone again this morning. Around a foot of new snow fell yesterday and several more inches of snow fell overnight, with 2.6" SWE in the last 48 hours at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel. It's currently 15°F and there is 85 inches of total snow and back up to 82% of normal SWE. Northwest winds are blowing around 15 to 20 mph this morning at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station.
With widespread layers of preexisting very weak faceted snow, the significant increase in load has created very dangerous avalanche conditions on many slopes in the backcountry.
It's snowing at a decent rate again this morning in the Bear River Range and snow is expected to continue today in the mountains, with 2 to 4 inches of accumulation possible by this evening. High temperatures at 8500' will be around 15°F, with moderate northwest winds and wind chill values as low as -3°F. Snowfall will taper off this evening, and we'll see a break in precipitation tomorrow, with continuing cold temperatures, mostly cloudy skies, and moderating westerly winds in the mountains... Another good shot of winter storminess is expected Friday and Saturday, with a foot or more of accumulation possible at upper elevations in the Logan Zone.
Yesterday, we could see evidence of large and long running natural avalanches in the Wellsville Range above Mendon. Some of these appear to have run at least 2500 vertical feet. A stand out in Old Logway Canyon hit Maple Bench, depositing a multi-acre debris pile that is visible from across Cache Valley.
Saturday (2-13-2021), a party of local backcountry skiers remotely triggered a large avalanche in "the Gut" of White Pine Knob above the yurt in the popular Bunch Grass Canyon. The 4' deep and about 500' wide avalanche occurred on a southeast facing slope at around 8900' in elevation. The slope angle at the crown was in the lower 30° range, but the slope rolls to 40 degrees in the Gut itself, and the hard slab was well connected, pulling out even on the lower angled slope above and on each side of the steep section.
Thursday (2-11-2021), riders remotely triggered a large hard slab avalanche on a pretty low angled slope in the Peter Sinks Area (an area that is not well known for avalanches). The avalanche on an east facing slope at around 8300' in elevation was around 100 feet wide and 2 to 7 feet deep, and it stacked large chunks and piles of debris into the trees below. It was the third such hard slab avalanche to occur this week on a fairly low angled slope (between 30 and 35 degrees) and in a rather unexpected place. All have been in the eastern part of the Bear River Range...
