*** BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE AND MOUNTAIN WEATHER BULLETIN *** Good afternoon, this is Seth Shaw with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Forecast Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather bulletin. This is Monday, January 12 and it's 3:15 pm. This information is brought to you in part by a generous donation to the FUAFC from Kirkham's Outdoor Products, the backcountry specialists with an outstanding selection of x-c skis, snowshoes and demos. Bottom Line: Wasatch Mountains: Extreme danger, spontaneous avalanches expected. Current conditions: Last night it snowed from 12" to 17" in the SL and Park City area mountains with about an inch to an inch and 1/4 of water weight in that snow. Since Saturday that makes about 2' of snow and 2.5" water equivalent. At sundance in the provo mountains it snowed 18 inches with 2.25 water last night, add this to the previous storm and that is 40" of snow with 4.25 water since Saturday. At Snowbasin in the Ogden mountains another 12" fell last night with 2.3" water. That brings the total in the Ogden area mountains since Saturday to around 3 feet of snow and 4.5" of water weight. Beaver mtn in Logan Canyon reports 11" from yesterday and last night. When the front passed winds blew very hard at all elevations. On Mt Ogden winds were gusting over 100 mph for 3 hrs and over 80 mph for 7 hrs. Even stations that are usually protected had winds gusting in the 50's. Today the wind has been a little calmer but still blowing 15 to 30 out of the WNW along ridges. There were numerous natural and human triggered slides yesterday and today that I heard about. One of them caused serious injuries when the person hit a tree in west facing Pink Pine in Little Cottonwood Canyon. There were a couple other human triggered slides yesterday in closed out of bounds terrain near Powder Mt. in the Ogden area mountains. No one was seriously injured in either of those slides near Powder Mt. A patroller took a long ride today on a steep E aspect and ended up with a broken femur but is doing OK. Avalanche conditions: There is an avalanche warning in effect today for the Wasatch mtns from Logan through at least Mt Nebo to the south with natural deep slab releases likely and human triggered slides certain on steep slopes. The danger is the greatest in the Ogden and Provo area mountains with the most new snow falling on a very weak snowpack. Backcountry travel will be very dangerous today and the next several days with more snow expected tonight and Thursday. People traveling in the backcountry should avoid terrain steeper than 25 degrees, stay out of avalanche run out zones and stay out of steep sided gulleys. Expect avalanches on all aspects and even at low elevations. Areas that are usually considered safe could be dangerous. Slides will run very far on slick bed surfaces so run out zones will be longer and larger than usual. There has been widespread large spontaneous and explosive triggered slides on all aspects and at all elevations above about 6,500' through out the Wasatch. Mountain Weather: Tonight's storm is still on track and should put down an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow tonight into tuesday. Winds are forecast to blow hard, around 35 to 40 mph, from the southwest tonight as that system approaches. The bulk of the precipitation will come between 10:00 tonight and 8:00 tomorrow morning with flurries continuing into afternoon. The cold front looks like it will get here around 3 am. After that it looks like two northern brush bys one on Wednesday night and the other Friday night. For more detailed information call 364-1591. -To find out where the Wasatch Powderbird Guides will be skiing and to get their schedule, call 521-6040 x 5280. -Comments on the scoping notice analyzing the impacts of issuing a new 5-year permit to WPG need to be received by the SL Ranger District by Jan 30, 1998. *** If you get into the mountains give us a call and let us know what your seeing out there. Our office number is 524-5304 or 1-800-662- 4140. The information contained in this bulletin is from the U.S. Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This information describes general avalanche conditions, local variations always occur. Tom Kimbrough will update this bulletin by 7:30 on Tuesday morning. Thanks for calling. Shaw