sisyphus wrote:[b]Are people finding this thread useful? It seems like an echo chamber for Tye Die and me for the most part with a few others chipping in here and there. If you're lurking and you find this info useful, let me know, or I might consider dropping the idea.[/b

I personally find it very helpful. From a learning/trends standpoint I thinks it's great to get up to date observations from those of you who are much more experienced with this stuff than I am. Plus the photos have been great...

Oh say it aint so.....Keep the thread alive Sisyphus. Conditions vary from slope to slope and canyon to canyon right now and it is quite helpful to hear your observations from Summit Park, Lambs and the PC ridge. I am glad Matt turned out OK from his avalanche experince the other day.......otherwise it would be just Sisyphus and me on this thread.

I have found this thread to be very informative. But due to me not climbing this winter I cannot put it into much use.

I am only able to get out a few times a month in winter and not always to the SLC area. This is probably the reason why I and other people cannot contribute much information. I like reading about the current conditions and seeing the photos. I think this thread is very helpful.

I'm finding this useful, just to learn more about avalanches.

I'm a vigilant lurker. Please don't stop.

Wow. I didn't realize how many people were checking this thread. Sounds great. To clarify: I wasn't criticizing anyone for not posting anything on this thread, I was just concerned that no one was actually reading it and we were wasting our time. That's not the case, so I'll try to post each time I tour from now on and stay up on it.

PS... how do your observations correlate with the Utah Avy Center reports?

This year, I think they're pretty accurate from day to day with a few exceptions. You've also got to understand that avy forecasts are supposed to be general and conditions always vary greatly by aspect, elevation, location, etc. We're having a very atypical Wasatch snowpack so far this year, and it's been much more dangerous and complex than normal. I think they're doing a good job of hitting that theme in their reports this year, but I also understand the criticism that some people have that they scare people too much. It's a fine line, to be sure, and you've got to remember that they have to cater to the lowest common denominator. On the other hand, if I were a novice, I'd probably assume most days this winter that it's too dangerous to even go into the mountains from reading the UAC report. Like I said, it's a fine line, and I'm not sure what I'd do if I were forecasting for lots of people like the UAC.

On an aside, check this out:

http://www.tetonat.com/2010/02/the-truth-about-powder-skis/

d_shorb wrote:On an aside, check this out:

http://www.tetonat.com/2010/02/the-truth-about-powder-skis/

Ah yeah. Both movies were a great laugh.

On an aside, check this out:
http://www.tetonat.com/2010/02/the-trut ... wder-skis/

Nice.

In honor of the hockey win over Canada last night, I put a few signatures in USA Bowl today (I yelled USA! USA! on the way down, but it probably wasn't the same as being in Vancouver). Then we skinned down the PC ridgeline and skied out on Will's Hill in Willow Fork. About 12" of fresh in most places, a little more or less where the wind moved things around. I didn't find anything inconsistent with the avy forecast.

The big news today was the low clouds that moved in this afternoon. There was significant greenhousing with the low clouds coming in from ground level up to about 15000 feet all afternoon. It was one of the most humid days I've had this winter--I couldn't keep my sunglasses from fogging all day. Temps were downright frigid, probably close to single digits at 10000ft. It's going to be close to zero tonight, and this minor system is supposed to clear before morning. Add it up and you get another damn hoar layer in the works. There was already some hoar formation from last night to boot, making for some comical skinning. I predict some pretty amazing crystals out there tomorrow. We'll see what happens if it gets buried later on this week. Can the snowpack get any more f-ed up? We'll see...

Observation February 23 (Tues.) Went up to the Powder Parks today in Mill D North. From the top of Short Swing we caught sight of a large, possibly skier triggered, avalanche on Mount Raymonds east face. Later on in the day at the top of Powder Park 1 we saw yet another, possibly skier triggered, avalanche just off the Desolation Ridge. During the day we witnessed some idiot cross the entire release zone of Reynolds Peak with suprizingly no incident. It is people like them that are the reason why we have over 10 skier triggered avalanches a day right now. With more snow this weekend things should get rather intresting out there.
The 1st picuture is of the avalanche on Mount Raymond

The 2nd picture is of the avalanche on the Desolation Ridge

Summit Park today. Skied North and Northeast facing terrain from 8600. The new snow and the older powder above the hoar layer was cracking quite a bit when I was skiing, but I couldn't get anything to break up or move, even on a slope near thirty degrees with a ski cut. About 8-10" of new snow by 5pm.

Observation Feb 25 (Thursday). Went up to Mill D North today. Skied 2 laps on the east facing Wally World (just off Toms Hill) and 1 lap on the north/west facing Powder Park #3. While skinning up the Mill D North trail in the morning an unusual avalanche was found just before Toms Hill. While skinning away from the scene, a large avalanche crown was observed about 1,000 vertical feet above trail in the same area. Both of these avalanches were on steep east facing slopes and consisted of the new snow running on a burried suncrust. Just about every aspect skied today was the blower, over your head and in your face kind of snow.
The 1st picture is of the small avalanche that was observed along the Mill D North trail.

I've been out of town just in time for the latest storm (of course), but I wanted to cut and paste these stats from the UAC:

This brings our record-shattering season total SO FAR this season to:

261 unintentional, human triggered avalanches in the backcountry

59 caught

23 partial burials

5 total burials

11 injured

3 killed

Wow.

sisyphus wrote:I've been out of town just in time for the latest storm (of course), but I wanted to cut and paste these stats from the UAC:

This brings our record-shattering season total SO FAR this season to:

261 unintentional, human triggered avalanches in the backcountry

59 caught

23 partial burials

5 total burials

11 injured

3 killed

Wow.

A very SAD RECORD indeed.

It's gonna get worse as more YAHOO's go out into obvious and posted Dangerous AVY Conditions thinking that they are all BULLET PROOF because they own the latest and best equipment!

Seriously and sadly appears that many of these folks are not be utilizing the one most important piece of gear in their inventory...

THEIR BRAINS!