# Utah Avalanche Warning....



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

This should be of no surprise to those Utards who frequently travel in the bc. If it is you should be checking the Utah Avalanche Center's website on a daily basis. I check their counterpart here in Colorado everyday.


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## CaptT (Sep 23, 2009)

Well Kill this is directed for the non-Utards that want to be a Utard for a day.....


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## snoeboarder (Sep 19, 2008)

i wanna go Utard fir a day

what i really mean is ... i see rain and grass today and ive never had an epic day :-(


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

No doubt CaptT. Though when I am traveling to Utah to play, I check the UAC website too. I've been checking it about once a week and as President's day gets closer I will start checking it daily to get an idea as to what is going on. All I can say is nabbing Ben Lomond peak on this trip is not looking good. The trees off of the ridge line should be a hoot though...


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## CaptT (Sep 23, 2009)

I was actually pondering about that last night.....it "looks" super sketchy right now too........lots of cliff exposure and snow that just looks like it wants to go.....


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Yeah, unfortunately it looks like Utah is suffering from the pronounced faceted layer at the bottom of the snow pack. That long dry spell with not a lot of snow on the ground cooked it for everyone in Colorado and Utah. At least you have a shot of getting enough snow fall to bridge it, maybe. It's going to be around here for the season without a doubt. Utah is considered a transitional zone. In between the wetter Maritime snow pack and Colorado's Continental snow pack. Often times the best of both worlds. Then you can also get the worst features too, like the faceted layer that Colorado always has to some degree. Right now, it looks to me that there is just no way I could justify trying to ride off the top of Ben Lomond. The ridge just below the final climb has some killer fun terrain that is way safer.. So not a bad second option. Looks like I'll be 0-3 on Ben Lomond tries. Though this one ended before I even got started...


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Sucks, another skier was killed in the Utah backcountry yesterday. Right across from Solitude ski area. He was skiing the Meadow chutes in Silver Fork canyon, triggered a hard slab which propagated above him and took the rug out from underneath. He was carried through an Aspen grove and it sounds like he was critically injured by the experience. The last few years it seems that Utah has been matching or exceeding the number of deaths as compared to Colorado. Not good. I know the snow pack is generally more stable out there, but persistent layers can and do happen every few years. This is one of them. This is a year to play on more conservative slopes, well forested areas that are not threatened from above. Open, steep chutes that people rode a bunch last year are likely to be death sentences this year. It's a tough pill to swallow but the results of ignoring the danger will often end up like this accident. I am pretty sure that the Snobasin slack country run I did last year would be a very bad idea this year. 

RIP.


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