Sometimes It's Too Much

Marc_C

Marc_C

Active member
30" storm total of extremely heavy, dense snow on top of the pre-existing, light, fluffy, cold snow over the past 2 days ....gives us this on Monday morning:

From Alta:
Alta Ski Area will not be open this morning and there is some chance we will open this afternoon. We will reevaluate at 11:00 am and update this message.

The town of Alta is under interlodge restrictions.

Snowbird says:
The canyon road is currently closed, and the estimated re-opening time is 12:00pm; this will be re-evaluated at 10:00am. Interlodge travel restrictions within the Snowbird village are in effect.

Utah Avalanche Center:
There is an EXTREME (LEVEL 5) avalanche danger in the Provo area mountains with a HIGH (LEVEL 4) danger elsewhere. Backcountry travelers should stay off of and out from underneath slopes of 30 degrees or steeper. For skiers and boarders, this would be a good day to recreate at the ski resorts.
 
It's not every day that you see an avi rose like this one:

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When was the last time you got one of these?
Tony Crocker":1f5z3p8c said:
This is IMHO a key difference between East and West. In most of the West the temperatures aloft during winter storms are nearly always colder than those on the ground. And during prolonged storms there is a strong tendency for density to decrease over time. The study last year by someone at University of Utah of Alta's records noted this trend and considered it a key contributor to the quality of Alta's skiing: first depositing a layer of relative dense snow, followed by fluffier powder on top of it.

I do hear occasionally of "upside down storms" that end with heavier snow or rain in the PNW, but that is more rare in my Sierra or even SoCal experience and nearly unheard of in the Rockies.
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jamesdeluxe":ksnk8uul said:
When was the last time you got one of these?
Tony Crocker":ksnk8uul said:
This is IMHO a key difference between East and West. In most of the West the temperatures aloft during winter storms are nearly always colder than those on the ground. And during prolonged storms there is a strong tendency for density to decrease over time. The study last year by someone at University of Utah of Alta's records noted this trend and considered it a key contributor to the quality of Alta's skiing: first depositing a layer of relative dense snow, followed by fluffier powder on top of it.

I do hear occasionally of "upside down storms" that end with heavier snow or rain in the PNW, but that is more rare in my Sierra or even SoCal experience and nearly unheard of in the Rockies.
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Which? An upside down storm or decreasing density?
Short answer - both in the last 10 days.
 
ilikewinter":2d27jpfe said:
So if I was out there, I should be hitting the backcountry. ha ha, jk. That's pretty intense...
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The backcountry can be safe, even in these conditions. Key is staying off of slopes that have the potential to slide, staying out of run-out zones of those slopes (which can be a lot larger than one might think), and practicing safe travel protocol. However when the potential is this high, that pretty much relegates you to slightly steep cross country skiing.
 
jamesdeluxe":2r89ntio said:
At least it covered up the sandpaper I skied at Brighton on Friday.
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James, Somehow you picked the only week this season with tough snow conditions in the west. At least you got some good snow on the cat day, though...
 
I do hear occasionally of "upside down storms" that end with heavier snow or rain in the PNW, but that is more rare in my Sierra or even SoCal experience and nearly unheard of in the Rockies.
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Maybe rare was too strong an adjective, but it happens the other way a lot more often. And note to the easterners, it still wasn't rain.
 
Tony Crocker":3l1s6m9d said:
And note to the easterners, it still wasn't rain.
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Yes it was below 8000 feet. In copious quantities. Park City, Canyons, Deer Valley, Snowbird, Solitude, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Wolf Mountain, Sundance, etc. all have terrain below 8000 feet, some of them a substantial amount.
 
admin":2ej53oyh said:
some of them a substantial amount.
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Minute amounts in the Cottonwood Canyons.

And it sounds like 8,000 was the max snow level. How much of the storm was it that high? And more importantly, if the last part of the storm had a low snow level as indicated by observations at your house, those other areas got resurfaced and won't have the ice that you get when the end of the storm is rain.

Tahoe is in a similar situation with fluctating snow levels but still getting close to half at lake level as up high. Even the SoCal areas may get saved if Tuesday/Wednesday are all snow as some are predicting.
 
Tony Crocker":30201f5a said:
And it sounds like 8,000 was the max snow level. How much of the storm was it that high? And more importantly, if the last part of the storm had a low snow level as indicated by observations at your house, those other areas got resurfaced and won't have the ice that you get when the end of the storm is rain.
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The vast majority of the moisture fell while the snow line was 6500-7500 feet.
 
Tony Crocker":2p34r0zq said:
And it sounds like 8,000 was the max snow level. How much of the storm was it that high?
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From today's avi advisory:
The Provo area mountains have around 9 inches of water in the past 3 days. The Ogden area mountains have up to 6 inches, and the Cottonwood Canyons have a measly 5 inches. But they are rapidly catching up with the cold front overnight. Last night, Alta had astoundingly high precipitation intensity of a half inch of water in an hour and close to that rate continued for three hours last night as the cold front passed. Yesterday afternoon the rain-snow line rose to over 8,000 feet but the cold front lowered it down to the valley floor overnight. If that’s not enough, freezing levels should rise again on Tuesday.
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Canyon opened at 1:00. It was light and deep.

Yesterday (Sunday) great turns in the afternoon on a dense but wind buffed West Rustler.

No such thing as too much!
 
there's never to much !!! just snorkel extensions please . started out sat. & sun. with admin in the morn. tele jon- skidog on sun. morning a bunch of other folks were there too . point supreme skied nicely tower twelve skied nicely everywhere skied nicely . down through the taliban check point into mineral basin . sat. morning the snow was twice as deep in mineral as it was anywhere at alta . (mineral faces south ) tele jon was on the same mission i was a couple in mineral basin then back up m.b.e. one last time . out to the upper cirque great scott to be exact . upon arrival at the edge we found that the second entrance from the highest going back up the ridge towards the snow fence was the sweetest entrance of all . ( it would be possible to ski in from directly behind the snow fence . but would be a mandatory strait line down a 200 centimeter wide chute with a slight turn in the rock walls about thirty yards in- at approximatly 47 -48 degrees for fifty yards total before clearing the rocks.) the entire upper cirque was hero snow with hero density thrown in to entice speed . the snow in my opinion was better on the peruivan gulch side of baldy than the collins gulch side . only because of the cirque acting as a hollow to catch the wind blown snow . the snow was a few points higher in density the last two hundred verts. at the bird verses the bottom of alta .
 
Tuesday morning update:
Storm total now at 47"; another 1 - 2 feet forecast by Thursday morning. The last 24 hrs produced 16" of 4% density. We got 6" at the house at 4960'.
 
And I'm stuck in LCC stop 'n go back past the swamp lot.

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With these conditions and the resultant competition and feeding frenzy in LCC, I'd go to Solitude today.
 
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