Avalanche ADVISORY
saturDAY february 17, 2007

Good Morning! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center 
with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. 
Today is Saturday, February 17, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 in the morning. 

This advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North 
Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. 

Current Conditions:

High pressure is moving into the region, giving us mostly clear skies this morning 
along with diminishing winds. Temperatures are in the mid teens and winds are generally 
out of the north, blowing 15-25 mph with higher wind speeds along the peaks. The Windy 
Peak site is averaging 20 mph with gusts in the mid 30’s. 2”-4” of creamy, dense new 
snow fell in the past 24 hours, vastly improving the riding and turning conditions.  

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday, Ted, Dave and I rode up along the Mirror Lake Highway and every upper elevation 
slope we stepped on collapsed, bellowing out loud whoomphing noises and shooting cracks… 
big indicators to unstable snow. While the visibility was limited we saw the strong 
northwesterly winds and heavy new snow produced several natural avalanches, mostly on 
slopes with an easterly component. The culprit behind all the instability is our persistent 
problem child, the weak sugary facets formed during the January dry spell. This persistent 
weak layer is notoriously tricky and much of the steep terrain that didn’t avalanche during 
the past two storm cycles now rests in a fragile balance, waiting for a rider to come along 
and give it an extra thump. Our complex snowpack is problematic and it may allow you to ride 
some steep slopes throughout the range without incident, giving you a false sense of snow 
stability, luring you deeper into the avalanche dragon’s den. Yesterday’s strong winds deposited 
snow in unusual locations and further down slope than you might expect. Today you’ll need to 
carefully assess slopes on an individual basis and be diligent with safe travel techniques by 
only putting one person on the slope at a time. In addition, think about the consequences of 
triggering a slide.  Avalanches triggered today have the possibility of breaking into deeper 
buried weak layers, creating a large, dangerous and possibly unsurvivable avalanche. Also, 
you may be able to trigger avalanches from a distance, so even if you’re playing on low angle 
terrain, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to where you’re riding.

Bottom Line:

At and above tree line the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on all slopes steeper than 
about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow, especially those facing east, 
northeast and southeast. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches 
are probable and natural avalanches are possible.

At mid and lower elevations the avalanche danger is MODERATE on recently wind loaded slopes 
and human triggered avalanches are possible.

Mountain Weather:

Mostly sunny skies and warming temperatures are on tap today as high pressure moves over the area. 
Highs today at 10,000’ will be near freezing and at 8,000’ in the low 40’s. Overnight lows will 
be in the mid teens. Winds will become more northerly and quiet down into the 10-20 mph range as 
the day wares on. Partly cloudy skies and slightly warmer temperatures are expected on Sunday and 
southwesterly winds begin to increase late in the day as the next Pacific system approaches the 
area. This looks like a good shot of moisture for us with another 8”-10” of snow expected by late 
Monday along with much colder temperatures. Looking into the future… we should see clearing midweek, 
with another storm expected to impact the area around Thursday.