Thanksgiving saw several human-triggered avalanches in Utah’s backcountry, including within the Uintas. According to the Utah Avalanche Center, weak snow near the ground is the main cause with a picture from a remotely triggered avalanche in the Uintas showing a lot of grey ash from the Yellow Lake Fire. Craig Gordon with the Utah Avalanche Center reports that the Uintas are showing “MODERATE avalanche danger on steep, shady, wind drifted slopes. Though the snowpack is shallow and it doesn’t look like there’s enough snow to slide, human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE and could break deeper and wider than you might expect, especially in the wind zone above treeline, and particularly on slopes facing the north half of the compass that held early season snow.” Any backcountry users are urged to have completed avalanche safety training before heading into the backcountry and always having proper avalanche safety equipment.
