Note: There is no archived advisory on the UAC site for Ogden on Jan 24, so the one here is from the 23rd. This is one day prior to the fatal incident. It is not clear that this advisory is really unique to Ogden either, the references in it are almost entirely to areas in the Salt Lake mountains. Not that conditions were likely to differ much on this day. Ogden Avalanche Advisory Saturday, January 23, 2010 Created at 7:22 am Updated at 7:24 am Forecaster: Brett Kobernik AVALANCHE WARNING » Dangerous avalanche conditions are occuring or are imminent. Backcountry travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Notice: OK PEOPLE, ANOTHER CLOSE CALL IN THE BACKCOUNTRY YESTERDAY DEMONSTRATES HOW DANGEROUS THE CONDITIONS ARE. SOMEONE'S LUCK IS BOUND TO RUN OUT IF WE CONTINUE TO TOY WITH STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN. AN AVALANCHE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED AND READS: RECENT SNOW AND EXPECTED MORE SNOW ON TOP OF AN ALREADY WEAK SNOWPACK IS PRODUCING DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS HAVE OCCURRED OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS AND MORE ARE PROBABLE IF PEOPLE VENTURE ONTO STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN THIS WEEKEND. PEOPLE ARE ADVISED TO AVOID STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. BOTTOM LINE I'm continuing with a HIGH danger on northwest through southeast facing slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper. AVOID AVALANCHE TERRAIN TODAY. CURRENT CONDITIONS Another foot or so of fresh snow blanketed the upper elevations in the Cottonwoods, Park City Ridgeline and the Provo area mountains. There's about half that in the low and mid elevations. The Ogden mountains received 6 to 10 inches. Temperatures are in the mid teens. Winds have slowed along the mid elevations compared to yesterday and are gusting 10 to 15 mph with gusts in the 20s and 30s along the higher terrain. RECENT ACTIVITY There was a full burial and live recovery during a backcountry avalanche accident on Friday. A skier triggered an avalanche that broke two and a half feet deep and 600 feet wide on a northwest facing slope named Brighton Hill or Brad's Bowl. He was caught, carried and fully buried. His partner was able to perform a perfect rescue with an avalanche transceiver and he was recovered with minor injuries. Another large avalanche was intentionally triggered not far away on the ridge of 10420 by a skier dropping a cornice. This slide broke out three and a half feet deep and was reported as 200 feet wide on a northwest facing slope. Another pocket pulled out naturally or possibly from skiers walking along the high ridge above Short Swing in Mill D North. It was north facing about 40 feet wide and 1 to 3 feet deep. There was one other unconfirmed report of a sizable slide along the West Willow ridgeline with an unknown trigger. All of these avalanches broke into old weak faceted snow. A road bank reportedly released from a snow plow near Deer Creek this morning and covered half the highway with debris. Cottonwood ski resorts had a very active day on Friday as well with numerous large avalanches breaking into old snow. Large collapses continue to be reported from the backcountry. THREAT #1 The primary concern remains the same but the severity of the avalanches is increasing. The most dangerous situation is clearly triggering an avalanche that breaks into old snow. Weak old snow exists on a variety of aspects from west through north through southeast. It's really simple today, DON'T SCREW AROUND WITH IT. THREAT #2 A secondary concern is the new snow. If we have periods today with heavier then expected snowfall, the new snow can rapidly become unstable on all aspects. MOUNTAIN WEATHER We'll see periods of snow through the day today with around 5 inches possible in the Ogden mountains adding two to three tenths of an inch of water by this evening. Again, watch out if we see heavier then anticipated snowfall. Temperatures will be in the upper teens to low 20s. Winds will be from the west and northwest and will probably gradually increase as the day goes on. Snow is likely again tonight into Sunday morning.