Utah Avalanche Center

Snow feels very weak. Like skiing in Colorado (bottomless facets!) Sinking deeply even with skis, sand boxing when trying to climb. Boot pen to ground.

A couple natural d2 wind slabs from overnight off east face of Providence Peak above pit location. Riders testing some very steep slopes nearby without triggering any avalanches.

The CT result at 22 cm was surprising. An ECT would not break at 22 cm until we hit the shovel several times with a drop kick. South of Provo Canyon and/or at higher elevations, the layer of facets at the ground is thicker. Very low density snow on surface would sluff very easy.

Pit located just north of the powerlines at the head of the Left hand of Arthurs Fork. The main point of this pit was to look for facets at the ground to get a sense of what might exist at 9k in this area. At this elevation, I am not concerned about this layer. At 9k, I think the faceted layer is much thicker and a potential problem.

not much sign of expected wind drifted snow...

Lots of snowmobile tracks on any slope that had enough snow cover to ride. Many slopes still too thin to climb into avalanche terrain.

Shallow snow in the Beaver Mt. Area is faceted throughout and very soft in many areas with less 2 feet of total snow. This is on a west facing, forested slope. Similar snow depth and structure noted across the area