Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Saturday - March 7, 2015 - 5:10am
bottom line

At and above treeline, on steep wind drifted slopes facing the north half of the compass you'll find pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered slides are possible. Avalanches triggered in steep, rocky terrain have the potential to break deeper and wider than you might expect and could get quickly out of hand.

On the other side of the compass, the danger of wet avalanches may rise to MODERATE on steep sunny slopes during the heat of the day.

Most other terrain offers a LOW avalanche danger.
current conditions

Skies are clear, temperatures in the low to mid 20's, and Northeast winds increased late last night and are blowing 20-30 mph along the high peaks. Sunny slopes have taken on some heat and are crusty, but mid and upper elevation shady terrain offers soft, settled cream, on a go-anywhere base.

Click here for real-time temperatures, snowfall, and winds.
recent activity

The Uinta's experienced a pockety avalanche cycle as a result of the recent storm. I didn't observe a lot of avalanching... the activity was confined to steep rocky slopes with slides breaking 1'-2' deep.
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

Weak, sugary snow... it's the Uinta's Achilles heel and the culprit to a hand-full of recent human triggered slides this week. While not widespread, hard to trigger, and even harder to detect, today's avalanches still have the potential to break to weak snow near the ground. Our usual suspects come to mind... steep, rocky slopes with a thin, shallow snowpack. If you're getting into terrain with these characteristics remember- even a small slide breaking to the ground could quickly get out of hand, especially in steep committing terrain. With all the good options for riding today, there's really no reason to pull on the dogs tail.

This is a great example of what we're dealing with and what makes persistent slabs so unpredictable. On Thursday in Upper Weber Canyon, this heavily wind loaded Northeast facing slope was triggered from a sub-ridge about 20' feet away... after it had already been skied... tricky for sure. In addition, Ted and I experienced a heart-stopping collapse on a steep, rocky, slope with a thin shallow snowpack in Upper Chalk Creek yesterday.
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

It's March and the sun is getting intense. As the day heats up and particularly if you're feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass, you'll want to get off of and out from under steep, sunny slopes. In addition, avoid terrain traps like gullies and road cuts where wet, cement-like debris can pile up very deeply.

Cornices aren't the ginormous monsters we're used to seeing this time of year, but they're definitely big enough to let you know who's boss. You'll want to avoid these unpredictable boxcars, especially during the heat of the day.
weather

A dry and stable northerly flow remains in place through the weekend, giving us brilliant sunshine and temperatures slowly rising into the mid 30's. Winds remain reasonable, in the 20-25 mph range, and are most pronounced on the highest peaks. Under clear skies overnight lows dip into the 20's.
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 call me directly at 801-231-2170, email craig@utahavalanchecenter.org, or email by clicking HERE

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email craig@utahavalanchecenter.org

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The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

I will update this advisory by 7:00 AM Sunday Mar. 8, 2015.