Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory
Friday, January 29, 2010
Created at 6:53 am
Forecaster: Bruce Tremper
	
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
	
Special Avalanche Advisory

Unusually dangerous conditions exist today and through the weekend for most of the mountains in 
Utah. Many slope lie hanging in the balance waiting for a trigger, such as the weight of a person 
or snowmobile. These avalanches will be unusually large and mostly unsurvivable. Backcountry 
travelers should avoid all slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper that face northwest, north, 
northeast, east and southeast at mid and upper elevations.

BOTTOM LINE	

The avalanche danger is what we call "Scary Considerable" with pockets of High on any slope 
approaching 35 degrees or steeper that faces west, northwest, north, northeast, east and southeast. 
Avalanches will be very large and unsurvivable. All backcountry travelers must avoid these slopes. 
You can trigger these avalanches from adjacent slopes, ridges or from below.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Today is remarkably similar to yesterday with clear skies and warm temperatures. It's cold down in 
the mountain valleys, but it's a balmy 20-25 degrees on the ridge tops. Winds are light. There is 
very nice powder on the shady aspects but the sunny aspects have a sun crust.

RECENT ACTIVITY

Avalanche activity continues, even though it is many days after the storm. Yesterday backcountry 
skiers triggered yet another large avalanche in the Yellowjacket area of Gobbler's Knob. The slope 
collapsed when they were on a flat ridge and the slope below broke out 2-4 feet deep, 200' wide 
on a NNW facing slope at 8900'. Another backcountry skier triggered the northeast face of Murdock 
Peak, which is in the Canyons-Summit Park area. He triggered it from a 30 degree slope to the side 
and it broke out the whole bowl 3-4 feet deep. 

Avalanche control continued to produce very large avalanches near Park City (Limelight) and 
backcountry explosive testing produced a large slide in Mary Ellen, which is south of Snowbird. 
The Cottonwood Canyons resorts continue to produce several, localized, class 3 and 4 avalanches to 
the ground with explosives.

THREAT #1

Excuse me while I get on my soapbox here:

Not many people would go down a dark alley where there was a considerable danger of being attacked 
by a gang wielding knives and baseball bats. But for whatever reason, the word "considerable" 
doesn't get the same response when it comes to avalanches. Yes, we hate the word too, but we're 
stuck with it from an international standard. The new, North American definition of Considerable, 
which will go into effect next season is: "Dangerous conditions", and also, "Human triggered 
avalanches are likely."

Right now, the snowpack resembles a giant rat trap, cocked and loaded with an irresistible layer 
of powder cheese. Many slopes are just waiting to be tickled and the entire mountainside will 
shatter like glass, breaking down to the ground, creating a very large, mostly unsurvivable 
avalanche. What do we call these kinds of conditions? We have no idea. Danger ratings were not 
created to describe them. Better terms might include: "severe","don't go", "serious", "forbidden" 
or "What? Are you nuts?".

We are at hovering near the boundary between Considerable and High, or perhaps better described as 
a "Scary Considerable." Although the overall avalanche danger rating is Considerable, these 
avalanches are so large, they are valley crashers and tree snappers, plus, they are easily 
triggered if you hit the right spot, so I think it pushes them into the High range, at least on 
localized slopes. So I am sprinkling red dots on our danger rose.

Finally remember that most avalanche fatalities occur at Considerable because that is the maximum 
interaction between people and avalanches. As danger decreases after a storm, people's courage 
increases and X marks the spot where most people get killed. This game of Russian Roulette is just 
not worth playing. You need to adjust your slope steepness to the conditions.

THREAT #2

Continued warm temperatures will create some localized wet sluffs and perhaps some slabs on the sun 
exposed slopes. Use caution when the slopes heat up, especially in the afternoon.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Today's weather won't help people avoid temptation. The sun and warm temperatures make people feel 
great but remember that the snowpack does not share our opinion. The daytime high will be near 
freezing and winds will be light.

The extended forecast calls for a bit more snow on Saturday night through early Monday.