Although most slopes are stable, there is a localized MODERATE danger for the old hard wind drifts, mostly in above tree-line terrain. There is also an isolated MODERATE danger for triggering a deep slab avalanche mostly on north through east facing terrain at the mid and upper elevations. 

We are in the clutches of the dreaded January doldrums with high pressure building in.  This means smog in the valley and warm sunshine in the mountains.  It also means we clog our lungs and shorten our life if we stay in the valleys so we go into the fresh air of the mountains where we can watch the creation of weak layers on the snow surface in preparation for being overloaded by future slabs that may shorten our lives even more quickly. Temperatures continue to warm as the high pressure builds in.  Ridge top temperatures have risen to 25 degrees with a chilly 15 degrees down in the mountain basin bottoms.  Ridge top winds are very light.  The snow surface above tree line has lots of wind damage but there is still some creamy, dry, recrystallized snow on the north through east facing slopes.

People have been jumping into all the big, scary lines and not triggering avalanches.  For the Wasatch Range, you can follow some of these exploits at the various blogs such as StraightChuter, WowWasatch or Telemark Tips.  We’re lucky to have so many volunteer stability testers.  Explosive control work at the Cottonwood Canyon resorts yesterday pulled one deeper slab with a large charge on a southeast facing slope at 10,500 feet that had recent wind loading.  This was 3 feet deep by 120 feet wide.

Warm, sunny and calm up high; cold and smoggy down low.  And it’s going to stay that way until about next Thursday when some moisture drifts in from the southwest.  Ridge top temperatures will be in the mid to upper 30’s with light wind.  Temperatures down at 8,000’ will get into the mid 40’s.

The last of the Brighton Discount tickets have been reduced to $45, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. 

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center is hosting a Level 2 avalanche class in February which is now open for registration by going to the Black Diamond retail store.  More information is HERE.  

Tickets are now available for the annual Backcountry Awareness Dinner on February 13th, with registration through the Snowbird Renaissance Center.

Beacon training parks are up and running!  There is one at Snowbasin, one on the Park City side at the top of Canyon’s gondola, one in Little Cottonwood near the Snowbird parking structure on the bypass road, and in Big Cottonwood a training  park is at the west end of Solitude's lower parking lot.

If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.

For a text only version, the link is on the left side bar, near the top.

UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.  To find out more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.

Your snow and avalanche observations help everyone in the backcountry community.  Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

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

Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by 7:30 tomorrow morning.