Forecasters warn that even scant snowfall early in the season can bring dangerous avalanche conditions to the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains.
“I issued the first forecast for the season Tuesday morning,” Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Drew Hardesty said this week. “If there is enough snow to recreate on, then potentially there is enough snow to avalanche.”
He said another slide warning was issued Thursday.
“Early season, you typically see more of an unstable snow pack just because there is not that much snow out there. It often tends to rot and weaken and then the next time we get snowfall we start seeing interesting avalanches that make it tricky,” Hardesty explained. “The type of avalanche that you see is one that you’ll trigger and it will rip out 100 feet away from you or 50 feet above you.”
Two people in Utah have died in avalanches early in the season in roughly the last 15 years, Hardesty said.
“These can be really unstable conditions We’ve already been up in the mountains checking out the snow pack to have an idea of what the base layer looks like for anticipating the next storm,” he said. “There was easily a foot in the highest elevations and about a foot and a half up in the High Uintas.”
From Jupiter Peak to Bald Mountain, the lure of Utah powder attracts many skiers and snowboarders to Summit County. Snyderville Basin resident Max Zilvitis was 11 years old when he was buried in an avalanche while skiing in bounds at a local ski area about two years ago.
The Utah Avalanche Center helped educate teenagers in Park City who helped rescue the boy.
“Because of the town that we live in, I think there are opportunities even when we’re out snowshoeing in the winter on local trails where we should be aware that certain trails are much more dangerous than others,” the boy’s mother, Samantha Zilvitis, said. “Understanding what the risks are and how to identify risks, I think, is very important.”
The Utah Avalanche Center provides safety courses and daily slide forecasts for the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains.
“I’m definitely going to take an avalanche safety class when I get into high school because I really do want to ski backcountry,” 13-year-old Max Zilvitis said Thursday.
However, budget cuts have strapped avalanche forecasters despite the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains being some of the riskiest in the country when it comes to dangerous snow.
“That’s what I’m spending my day stressing over right now,” said Paul Diegel, executive director of Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. “We count a lot on individual donations and individual donations are just now starting to trickle in. It’s hard to tell if people are going to open up their wallet this year or not.”
Money the center receives from federal, state and county coffers funds mainly salaries and other overhead, he said.
“The government money pays for the bare bones, but it doesn’t pay for the extras like the Web site and teaching classes and things like that,” Diegel said. “If people don’t step up and donate we’re going to be in trouble.”
About a quarter of the center’s budget comes from private donors, he said.
“It seems the economic problems are catching up with us more this year than last year,” Diegel said. “If people use the avalanche center they really should consider donating.”
The center’s daily avalanche forecasts are available on the Web site or by calling the telephone hotline.
“It really affects a lot of people’s lives,” Diegel said. “More people die from avalanches in Utah than lightning strikes or any other forces of nature.”
The Utah Avalanche Center Web site is www.utahavalanchecenter.com. Daily avalanche advisories are available by calling (888) 999-4019.