ZCZC SLCWRKSNW TTAA00 KSLC 260013 Good afternoon, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Forecast Center with your avalanche and mountain weather bulletin for the Salt Lake area mountains. Today is Saturday, January 25 and it's 5:00 pm. This bulletin is brought to you in part by a generous donation to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center from Evolution Ski Company featuring hand crafted backcountry skis, Voile bindings and accessories plus complete tune up services. (Provo sponsorship: This recording is made available to you courtesy of BYU Outdoors Unlimited. The information contained in this bulletin is from the U.S.Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.) (Ogden sponsorship: This recording is made available courtesy of Weber State University Wilderness Recreation Center. The information contained in this bulletin is from the U.S. Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.) Bottom Line: An avalanche warning is in effect for the Wasatch mountains from Logan to Spanish Fork. Snow, combined with strong southwesterly winds, has created a very unstable snowpack, and spontaneous and human triggered avalanches are occurring. There has been alot of avalanche activity today, including spontaneous slides and several burials. On the bright side is a woman snowshoeing in Butler Fork who was buried by an avalanche in the terrain trap gully past the fork. She had no beacon on, was buried for over an hour, and was found by probing and was dug up alive with no reported injuries. The avalanche was 5-6" deep, 50-60' wide, and ran 30-40' vertical. On the dark side, there was a poor outcome for two ice climbers who were buried by an avalanche in Provo Canyon. One is alive, but injured. The other is dead. I have no names or other details. A natural avalanche also came within feet of Provo Canyon. A combination of winds and warming temperatures created a very sensitive slab of denser snow sitting on yesterday's cold light surface snow. New snow totals seem to be less than 6" at most locations, with the exception of Deer Valley, with 15 inches new. However, the winds made up for the lack of snow in other areas. Strong southwest winds continued all day, averaging in the 40's and 50's along the higher ridge lines, with gusts in the 80's. In wind sheltered areas, the heavy snow sitting on the light snow created a cracky slab 4 to 6" deep. However, in wind loaded areas, slabs were rapidly building to 2 feet and deeper. Cornices are also growing once again and very sensitive. With continued strong westerly winds tonight, avalanche conditions will worsen by morning. The wind slabs will become thicker, harder, and more wide spread. Though today's reports are of new snow avalanches only, as this storm cycle continues, the possibility for triggering the deeper weak layers will increase. The danger of human triggered avalanches is high, and spontaneous avalanches are occurring. Backcountry travel is not recommended unless you have excellent route finding and avalanche stability skills. If you do travel in the backcountry, avoid steep terrain, any areas of wind loaded snow, and avalanche run out zones. Mountain weather: The storm system is now becoming a forecasting challenging, but here is the best guess at the moment. A break early this evening in the SL and Provo mountains, and then snow resuming tonight. 2 to 4" tonight, with strong westerly winds, averaging over 40 mph. The Ogden and Logan mountains will have less of a break tonight, with 4 to 8" of snow possible. Another 3 to 6" of snow tomorrow, with more westerly winds. More detailed snowpack information: To report avalanche activity and snow conditions call us at 524- 5304 (or 1-800-662-4140) This bulletin and a detailed mountain weather forecast is available on the Internet at www.avalanche.org. You can find out where the Powderbirds plan on flying each day by calling their recording at 521-6040, extension 5280. Remember that this bulletin offers only generalized avalanche information and that you are ultimately responsible for your own safety. The Utah Avalanche Center is brought to you by the Forest Service in partnership with the National Weather Service, the State of Utah, Salt Lake County and the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center. Carol Ciliberti will update this bulletin by 7:30 Sunday morning, and thanks for calling. Lees