Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Wednesday - December 31, 2014 - 7:11am
bottom line

We have areas of CONSIDERABLE danger in the backcountry today. You'll find sensitive wind drifts in unusual areas today - along the high alpine north to west to south facing terrain as well as down along the foothills and mouths of canyons where there's drifted snow. Dangerous slabs 1-3' deep may also be triggered on west to north to east facing terrain in the mid and upper elevations.

Safe and excellent powder can be found on all aspects and elevations on slopes gentler than 30 degrees as long as nothing steeper exists above.




avalanche warning

THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR CANYON MOUTHS AND FOOTHILLS OF CACHE...DAVIS...WEBER AND EASTERN SALT LAKE COUNTIES. STRONG WIND WILL CREATE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WIND SLAB AVALANCHE CONDITIONS IN LOW ELEVATION AREAS WHERE PEOPLE DO NOT NORMALLY SEE AVALANCHES. AVALANCHE DANGER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE DAY TODAY.

 

Confused about Avalanche Watches and Warnings? - You can find our quick tutorial here.
current conditions

It's a bit like that Far Side cartoon where the Eskimo goes outside the igloo, looks around and reports back, "Yup, it's still cold out here." Temps are are few degrees on either side of zero. Skies are clear, but the east to northeast winds picked up overnight along the ridgelines, blowing 20-25mph with gusts to 35-45. "Canyon winds" remain brisk - weather stations at many of the mouths of canyons are spinning at 30-40mph. Professor Powder, as Jim Steenburgh is now known after publishing his book Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, has a great explanation of this weather phenomenon on his blog.

Bruce's video of the canyon winds affecting the foothills -
recent activity

Quiet in the backcountry yesterday. No reports of avalanches.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Quite a bit of snow available for transport; still it appears that most of the wind is affecting the highest, most exposed elevations and the foothills. Plumes were noted along the highest peaks yesterday - but what makes this tricky for those creatures of habit is that wind drifts will be in odd and unusual locations. Same for some cornice build-up.

For those of you that read the fine print - is the end of the world coming for low elevations? Of course not. But new wind slabs can and may be triggered by unaware folks today even walking their dog in the foothills. Steep terrain traps abound in the form of creek-beds and steep drainages. These are fairly unusual events and saving even one life through awareness is worth the trouble.

Mark White photo of cracking in the foothills -
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

These are the conditions that were the catalyst for the Avalanche Problem Toolbox. These are tricky and dangerous avalanche conditions not because there is a clear and present danger...it's because there isn't a clear and present danger. The snow isn't presenting obvious clues to instability. What is clear is that all of these avalanches triggered over the past week follow a certain pattern:

  • triggered by reasonably experienced backcountry skiers
  • triggered by the 3rd or 4th person on the slope
  • no obvious signs of instability

And yet the hard slab pulled out well above them taking (to varying degrees) two maybe three people for rides with one snapped tib/fib leg fracture and another buried up to his neck. Here's the activity rose on this layering since Christmas Eve.
weather

Clear and cold. Temps will be in the single digits and low teens today. Winds will be easterly, blowing 20-25mph along the high ridgelines and along the mouths of canyons and along the foothills. Another cold front drops by early weekend with perhaps another disturbance early next week. More info later on our Mountain Weather forecast by about noon.

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY  If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​ 

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures:  LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com with more resorts to come soon.  Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts.  All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI:  Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC.  Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell.  You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 exist