Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Trent Meisenheimer for Thursday - December 31, 2015 - 5:48am
bottom line

At and above treeline, a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are likely on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass. Any slide that breaks to old snow near the ground will be deep, dangerous, and quite possibly, unsurvivable.

Mid elevation terrain offers MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are possible on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

You'll find a LOW avalanche danger at lower elevations, particularly on slopes facing the south half of the compass.

Looking for a place to ride today and avoid avalanches altogether? Simply stick to low angle terrain with no steep slopes above or adjacent to where you're riding or choose big, wide open meadows where you can practice carving deep trenches.
current conditions

Don't forget your balaclava and thick gloves this morning - it's cold! current temps at the trailheads are in the negative single digits. The winds for the past 24hrs continue to be calm - along the high ridges the wind is out of the north west in the 5-15mph range with an occasional gust into the 20's. No new snowfall in the past 24hrs. There continues to be great riding conditions and soft settled powder throughout the range.

Trip reports and observations are found here.

Craig Gordon has been hard at work installing beacon checkers at the trail heads this week. Hats off to him for keeping this amazing program rolling and for keeping us on top of the greatest snow instead of buried beneath it. This one at Nobletts trail head. Remember to roll by them and make sure your beacon is sending a signal. If it's a green "circle" like above, you're sending a signal. Red "X" means you're not.
recent activity

No new reports of avalanches from the backcountry. However, this is not a sign of stable conditions - please read the deep slab problem below.

Recent avalanche observations are found here.

See or trigger an avalanche? Shooting cracks? Hear a collapse? It's simple. Go here to fill out an observation.
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

I am like anyone else. I look up to different individuals in my life for advice, especially advice about the snowpack. Every mentor - friend - colleague - that I know and trust, continues telling me that the snowpack structure is no good. We have a massive slab (3-6 feet of dense strong snow) sitting on very weak sugary (faceted) snow at the ground, and slopes that face the north half of the compass that are approaching 35 degrees in slope steepness should be avoided.

This doesn't mean the season is over for us. In fact this is really good news! This past storm did wonders for us and eventually we can turn the corner to a deep homogenous (even layered snowpack). For now, it's not the time to get after the steep northerly facing terrain, we need to give the snowpack time to breathe and adjust to its new load.

The safest option is boondocking in the trees and meadows far away from anything steep. Most of the recent avalanches have been triggered low on the slope from riders carving powder below the hanging steep slopes above. Deep slabs are tricky because we can have many tracks on the slope before it decides to fail. Riding beneath steep shady slopes is like standing below a massive log pile and pulling the bottom log out.... having all the logs fall down on you.

(Deep dangerous avalanches can still be triggered - Photo: Ted Scroggin, Double Hill Sunday December 27th)

It's a bit complicated now because you can probably ride plenty of steep slopes and not trigger a slide and think you're good to go. However, the kind of avalanche dragon we're dealing with- DEEP SLABS- often lets you get well out onto the slope before you find a weakness in the pack, collapse the slope, and then BOOM... or in this case WHOOMPH, you're staring down the barrel of a very dangerous slide.

Click HERE to view a viddy that pretty much sums up what we're dealing with.
weather

Skies will clear this morning and the sun will be a welcomed sight with the very cold overnight temperatures. Drier air moves into the state of Utah today and tomorrow. Winds switch to the east, but will remain light and under control today through Friday with speeds less than 20mph. Temperatures, clouds, and southerly winds will all increase over the weekend.

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. To register for the first in our series of on-the-snow sled specific classes you can register here.

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.

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but be will be updated by 7:00 AM on Friday, January 1st by Craig Gordon.