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Show The Utah Avalanche Forecast Center Predicting the Big, White Slide last year. And as a greater number of snowriders take to the backcountry, especial- By Jill Adler 3 ly snowmobilers, 64-1581. It’s ringing. Good Morning, this is Tom Kimbrough with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Forecast Center. Today is Tuesday, January 20 and its 8 a.m. The new snowfall last night piqued my interest in skiing this morning. A storm gave the mountains a much-needed shot of new snow last night. Alta and Brighton are both reporting 20 inches this morning. I am thinking of heading to the backcountry. But is it safe? After a rather quiet December in the avalanche world, the action has started to pick up. Strong winds the night before last built hard slabs of drified snow on top of the loose, sugar-like, faceted crystals that have been developing in past weeks. Today there will be a high danger of human-triggered avalanches on slopes of 35 degrees and steeper and above about 9,000 feet. Guess not. How can I tell for sure, though? I was able to trigger two of these hard slabs in upper Little Cottonwood yesterday afternoon. They were breaking about a foot deep and were quite sensitive. There was also plenty of cracking and collapsing in the snow pack, a could escalate. Ninety-five dents occur avalanche that gys better. It’s country,” said Weather Service building. She checks in with remote weather stations positioned on strategic peaks along the Wasatch that record the temperature, wind speed and sometimes snowfall. PHOTO: FRED HAYES Keith Clapier answers questions at the Utah Avalanche Forest Center. 4,000 skiers and beyond the fantasy painted in ski movies, or our last adventure, and danger present there. Six people died in The message number to see the force, power of avalanche incidents phone answering system. 1 veer reports from mini avalanche course,” added Evelyn. However, there is no true substitute for the real thing. The Forecast Center solves the problem of ignorance by not only providing critical, timely avalanche information, but by educating the public with basic avalanche awareness classes. Workshops and seminars, often funded through the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center, detail skills need- e moved through the Wasatch. No one really er even nine paid and volunteer field observers. Eight phone lines access the report. “We had to install extra lines because people were getting busy signals,” said Evelyn. “More people utilizing the Forecast Center's services is a good thing. The toughest part is getting people to listen to the whole forecast and not just hear that the Cottonwoods got two inches and hang up.” The most effective way for a backcountry skier to use the report is to listen every day so that they familiarize themselves with the development of snow conditions for a particular area over time. “Plus, it’s like getting a January when it was snowing up to threeinches-an-hour. “I usually fill out the mountain weather information by 6 a.m.,” she said. “That day I had to re-record the forecast by 8 a.m., because a freak storm pattern wseerrse its temperature, lows this routine, aided with casting is better than we've ever had and it’s stranding approximately She also updates their website. “From 6 a.m. until 8:30, it’s one hundred percent pure adrenaline.” She updates the forecast for the afterin the field testing the snow: Probing, dig- eo certainly better than nothing.” Evelyn will tell you about the day in PAGE the record setting off avalanches. She, along with four full-time and two part-time forecasters, fol- Forecaster. “We can clarify the forecast and tell where you should avoid going. We can't always be 100 percent right, but the fore- reer stay there, she cruises over to a noon. When she’s not in the office, Evelyn’s responsibility,” explained Evelyn Lees, U.S. Forest Service Backcountry Avalanche ee for that day was From weather person for a weather forecast or interpretation of the data, then back to her desk to check messages left by hired “observers” and the general public regarding avalanche sightings in the past 24 hours. She crunches the numbers and information into a comprehensible, user-friendly avalanche forecast recorded into a computerized tele- ging pits, measuring Twenty-four-hours-a-day, forecasters monitor computer models, satellite systems and the Internet, diagramming weather patterns and correlating them with daily field reports to produce an up-to-date picture of avalanche conditions along the Wasatch Front. “It drives us nuts to be asked where the best place to ski is. We won't assume that errr indoors. Often, those of us who love the backcountry and soft, deep snow fail to look earlier that month. 1980 to help combat the rising tide of Utah Ker local the place because of the rain crust created avalanche fatalities. there in weekend. Avalanches were going off all over Avalanche and snow forecasting is not an exact science. But there was a way to develop better odds. The National Forest Service created the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center in an “interlodge,” snowboarders canyon lodges. It snowed nearly two feet that Maybe I'll go tomorrow. © saw it coming.” That afternoon, Snowbird and Alta called of casualties ther, and go more places.” The forecasters, therefore, have their jobs cut out for them. Three-days-a-week, Evelyn rises early to gather information from a computer located in a windowless cubicle inside the Utah sure sign of instability. @¢ 5 4 the number percent of all avalanche acciwhen people trigger the catches them. “The technoloeasier to get into the backEvelyn. “You can travel fur- De not don. In this case, ed to test for avalanche conditions as well as instruct in search and rescue techniques. Taking advantage of the Forecast Center can reasonably prepare you for your backcountry experience. After all, wouldn’t you be happier on top of the “Greatest Snow on _ Earth” rather than under it? @ |