Utah hasn’t seen a lot of snow this season but with the recent storms the conditions are prime for avalanche danger this weekend.
Conditions should be perfect for those who stay in-bounds at Utah’s resorts.
Will Feltus is visiting from Los Angeles who spent the day at Snowbird — inside the ropes.
“The day was great; the conditions were really nice," Feltus said.
At about 3 p.m. on Friday, traffic was closed in Little Cottonwood Canyon for a few hours while UDOT crews did avalanche control near the Hells Gate area.
“We were on the bus coming back and they closed the road down for avalanche control, so we’re just walking back now, so hopefully we make it back in one piece,” Feltus said.
Making sure everyone this weekend makes it home safely is part of Craig Gordon’s job as an avalanche forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center.
“Right now, the avalanche danger is really elevated,” Gordon said.
Some zones in the backcountry are in considerable danger this weekend.
“That means that both human-triggered and natural avalanches are likely,” Gordon said.
There have been tragic avalanches in recent weeks and Gordon says a couple of good storms this week and whipping winds make conditions more unstable.
It’s put yet another thick cohesive slab on a basement that is super shaky; it’s like we’re putting all this heavy weight on top of a house of cards.”
A UDOT spokesperson says there were a couple of slide-offs in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Friday, but they weren’t serious.
Experts want to remind anyone going into the backcountry to check the forecasts and have all the proper equipment.
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February 06, 2021 at 02:03PM
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Avalanche danger will be high this weekend in northern Utah - KJZZ
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