Observation Date
12/19/2024
Observer Name
Kelly, Kelly, Miller
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver/Days
Location Name or Route
Flagstaff- Days/Silver Ridge-Grizzly Gulch
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Calm winds, clear skies with some high clouds. It was hot and stagnant on the climb without a hint of wind in the southerly facing terrain. Winds at nearby weather station at 10,488' were blowing from the southwest 6 gusting 11 MPH and the air temperature was in the mid 30's °F.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snow was a mixed bag of variable conditions depending on aspect. Damp, wind board, soft faceted loose with small surface hoar crystals, or no snow whatsoever. There were rollerballs on steeper south-west facing aspects and running water on the dirt in many locations up to 10,000' on south facing aspects.
Photo of snow coverage looking into Days Fork (J.Kelly). In this photo you can see previously wind-affected terrain on the ridgetop that is now faceting.
Photo (J.Kelly) of snow coverage south facing terrain 10,100' elevation.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #1 Comments
We elected not to travel on north facing terrain to avoid the buried persistent weak layer. We didn't observe any new avalanches besides the one reported in
Main Days from December 17,2024. We had talked about a plan to look at this crown face, but decided that the risk vs reward wasn't worth it when attempting to access this site via Flagstaff. From what we could tell from the summit near West Bowl this avalanche failed on weak faceted snow (most likely from November) and the crown was wide and had been loaded in by storm snow and recent westerly winds.
Comments
There was limited to no avalanche hazard on low and mid elevation southerly facing slopes because of lack of snow. The coverage on the northerly facing terrain is improving, but we are in an odd predicament where the most snow is also the avalanche prone terrain. Although the avalanche danger may start to drop in the coming days, the snowpack is still weak and there may be isolated areas where it will still be possible for humans to trigger an avalanche failing on buried facets (PWL). If we see any uptick in winds during this next high pressure then any terrain harboring old weak faceted snow will be getting my attention.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates
