It’s the time of year to start thinking about avalanches again, especially if you spend any time in the backcountry. To help educate the skiing/snowboarding/sledding/snowshoeing public, the Utah Avalanche Center holds a workshop every first Saturday in November. Dubbed, the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop, the event strives to bring avalanche awareness to the masses before the masses head to the snowy mountains.
This year is the 3rd annual USAW, and once again, it will take place at The Depot, located at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. The workshop begins at 1pm and ends at 4:30pm with a social to be held afterward at The Blue Goose.
So what should you expect at the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop? Well, listen and learn as pro skiers, snowmobilers, and avalanche experts take the stage and share their knowledge, take a look at the incidents from last season and learn from the mistakes others made when traveling in avalanche terrain in the Wasatch.
Admission is $25 and more information can be found at the Utah Avalanche Center website. In the meantime check out the schedule below:
13:05-13:20- I SSW Update- Karl Birkeland
This presentation will touch briefly on some of the papers presented at the 2010 ISSW and the take-home message from that research.
13:25-13:45 Monitoring Diurnal Near-Surface Faceting- Brett Kobernik
Near-surface faceting produces weak snow grains at or near the snow surface and once buried has the
potential to form weak layers in the snowpack structure. To gain insight into the formation of near-surface
faceting, iButtons (watch battery sized self contained temperature dataloggers) were employed to monitor
the snowpack temperature profile. A primary goal for this study is to provide forecasters with an easy and
practical method for collecting snow temperature profiles which may lead to a more intimate knowledge of
the snow structure and near-surface faceting in their region.
13:50- 14:10 – Patterns of Spatial Variability in Buried Surface Hoar Instability- Tyson Bradley
A look at the Wasatch surface hoar Avalanche Cycle in 2010, and similarities to the Valdez cycle of Y2K.
A classic example will illustrate the counter-intuitive nature of this weakness, and hopefully help ski touring
parties manage such instability in the future.
14:15-14:35 A Ginormous Close Call on Canada’s Boulder Mountain and its implications for local “big
iron” snowmobile events- Bruce Tremper and Craig Gordon
The avalanche occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 2010. It was associated with an informal
and unsanctioned snowmobiling event that includes highmarking as part of the activities. Reports indicate
that as many as 200 people attended the event, many of whom were observing from the track and/or runout
zone of the avalanche path. The only reason this accident has not gone down in the history books as Canada’ s
worst avalanche accident is luck, coupled with the quick initial response. Without either, the outcome of this
incident would have been much worse.
14:40-15:00 Break
15:00-15:20 Alexander Basin Avalanche Accident- M att Knotts, Clay Trautner , John Woeste
A review of the Alexander Basin avalanche accident on February 7, 2010 as told by survivors.
15:25-15:45 We are family… Wasatch winter warriors- Brandon Dodge
A community approach to information sharing, avalanche reporting, backcountry rescue and rescuer safety.
With all the information and resources available, how do we use them to best serve our winter recreating
family. Whether you’ re a backcountry “bark eater” or a “salty old patroller” we all have a role to play.
15:50-16:20 Some tales from the early days – Liam FitzGerald
The amount of terrain accessible from the Tram and chairlifts, most of it subject to avalanche activity, and a
limited amount of skier compaction created unique challenges to Snowbird Patrol and Snow Safety
personnel during the first few years of operation. Working at any new ski area is exciting but a place like
Snowbird, made it quite an adventure.
16:30-17:30 Social at The Blue Goose located in The Depot
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