Tag: Avalanche Conditions

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Three of Logan’s Finest

The Folly Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
The Folly
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Kick. Step. Breathe. Kick. Step. Breathe.

Skier John Louviere Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Skier John Louviere
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Skier Eric Newell Courtesy & Copyright John Louviere, Photographer Skier Eric Newell
Courtesy & Copyright John Louviere, Photographer

Miniature pellets of snow swirl past my face, land on the slope we are struggling against, then tumble hundreds of feet down the snow-encased mountain. My friend John Louviere and I have skied the Bear River Range backcountry together since we first met as Utah State University students in 1995.

Today the light is flat, causing both sky and mountain to blend into a single dimension, making it difficult to distinguish snow from clouds. The Dry Canyon slope we are ascending is prominent from nearly everywhere in Cache Valley. Each winter its absolute openness and gentle, seductive rolls tantalize backcountry skiers. For us, it is a blank canvas. We stare at it on our way to and from work, occasionally spotting other skier’s tracks, best highlighted when late evening sunlight turns the mountain hues of pink and orange.

But embedded in the stark beauty of this mountain is a dark past. Backcountry skiers call this slope “The Folly” for good reason: it measures exactly thirty-eight degrees in steepness—precisely the slope angle that produces the most deadly avalanches. Thirty-eight degree slopes are gentle enough to allow dangerous slabs of snow to build, where they can rest precariously without commitment to the mountain. A single skier, snowboarder, snowmobile, or even just one last snowflake can set it all in motion.

Because The Folly faces southwest, prevailing winds tend to transport freshly fallen snow off the slope, over the ridge, and deposit it in Spring Hollow. Afternoon sunshine also welds new layers of snow to old layers rather quickly. Both of these factors combine to stabilize the slope, despite its steepness, but it still shouldn’t be reckoned with unless you know and understand the composition and history of the snowpack. The spring-like conditions present today are exactly what John and I have waited for—everything is frozen firmly in place.
In January of 1997, Karl Mueggler and Max Lyon, who both grew up in Cache Valley, were visiting families for the holidays. The two decided to catch up on old times with Logan resident Keith Maas by ski-camping in Dry Canyon.

They pitched their tents in a stand of aspens interspersed with Englemann spruce at the base of The Folly. Trees generally serve as a good indicator of safety from avalanches since proven slide paths obliterate timber. Had they camped there any other night in a 20-year span, they would have awakened to another memorable ski day.
But while they slept, a foot of new snow fell and the west wind shifted, blowing violently from the northeast, heaping tons of snow from the Spring Hollow side onto The Folly. A week before, unseasonably warm temperatures caused rain to fall on the slope which later froze into a hard, smooth ice crust. All of these factors combined to create the perfect conditions for a spontaneous and catastrophic avalanche.

Despite their years of backcountry experience Karl, Max, and Keith were buried in their tent under five feet of concrete-hard snow. The community was devastated. Though I didn’t know Karl or Keith, I had spent a day skiing with Max only a few weeks before. He embodied the type of person anyone would aspire to become. Excitement for living radiated from his face. He laughed easily and spoke optimistically of the future. The same has been said of Karl and Keith. They were educators, outdoor activists, and advocates for community.
Over the years, I venture up here in the spring to pay tribute to their lives.

At the top of The Folly, still surrounded by thick clouds and meandering snowflakes, we start down, one at a time. Without warning, gracious sunlight bursts through the squall. We accelerate, gliding over the glowing snow, unsure if we are flying or skiing—a truly ethereal moment. The snow beneath our skis is firm and our metal edges cut tight turns with precision as we descend from the clouds, honoring three of Logan’s finest the best way we know how.

I’m Eric Newell, and I am wild about Utah.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer, Eric Newell image Courtesy & Copyright John Louviere
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/, Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller, Courtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Thank you Eric Newell for recording the student audio clips
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

A longer version of this story was printed in the Herald Journal Outdoors section May 5, 2006.

Opsahl, Kevin, Memories of fatal ’97 avalanche still fresh, The Herald Journal, Jan 14, 2017,
https://www.hjnews.com/accidents_disaster/memories-of-fatal-avalanche-still-fresh/article_03c457bd-ffa2-5e92-8527-38514ddb7016.html

“Outdoor Leadership Scholarship
The Lyon, Maas, Mueggler Outdoor Leadership Scholarship pays 50% of the tuition for the Desert Mountain Medicine Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification course.”
Lyon, Maas, Mueggler, Outdoor Leadership Scholarship, Utah State University
https://www.usu.edu/campusrec/outdoor/

Cane, James, Snow Dynamics, Wild About Utah, February 2, 2012, https://wildaboututah.org/snow-pack-dynamics/

Utah Avalanche Center https://utahavalanchecenter.org/

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Snow Pack Dynamics

Click for more information on Snow Layers. Graphic Courtesy Forest Service Avalanche Center www.fsavalanche.org
Snow Layers
Courtesy:
Forest Service Avalanche Center
Jim Conway, Graphic Artist
Formerly fsavalanche.org
See: https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/#snow-layer

Click for more information on Depth Hoar. Graphic Courtesy Forest Service Avalanche Center www.fsavalanche.orgDepth Hoar
Click to watch archived animation
Courtesy:
Forest Service Avalanche Center
Jim Conway, Graphic Artist
Formerly fsavalanche.org
See: https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/#depth-hoar-basal-facets

See Archived Avalanche Encyclopedia https://web.archive.org/web/20100312232112/http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/encyclopedia/

Water is our planet’s magical molecule, changing states faster than a presidential candidate. Snowpacks vaporize, ice melts and re-freezes, lakes evaporate, and cooled water vapor condenses back as clouds, snowflakes and hoarfrost. The muffled silence of the winter snowpack belies its dramatic pace of transformation.

In his book entitled “Life in the Cold”, author Peter Marchand explains the dynamic nature of the snowpack. Within a few hours after a snow storm, destructive metamorphism sets to work on the newly fallen snow. The delicate crystalline structure of each snowflake is quickly degraded. The intricate flakes transform to amorphous icy grains. Wind, warmth and compression accelerate destructive metamorphism, leaving a firmer, denser snowpack. At the surface, not only does snow strongly reflect the weak warmth of winter sunlight, but on a clear night, it radiates energy, greatly cooling the surface.

Meanwhile, the soil beneath the snowpack is typically warmer than the overlying snow, which is why springs can run all winter long. Three feet underground, soil temperature is within a few degrees of that location’s average annual air temperature. Sandwiched between the warm soil and the cold air, the blanket of snow is a great thermal insulator; fresh snow is the equal of fiberglass insulation. As a result, soil warmth transforms snow deep under the snowpack into water vapor. This moisture spreads through air spaces in the snowpack, following the thermal gradient to the chilly snow surface. As the moisture vacates the lower layers, a brittle porous layer develops in the snowpack. Termed “depth hoar”, it is weak, icy and prone to collapse. When the heavy overlying snowpack shifts, the crumbly depth hoar can release an avalanche, a powerful reminder of snowpack transformations for any backcountry traveler.

Come spring, every particle of Utah’s snowpack undertakes its final transformation. Some sublimates to waft away on warm springtime winds. Most of it melts away to feed the groundwater, springs and streams that give us cool relief on a hot summer day and provide the precious water that every Utahn depends on.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Graphics: Courtesy Forest Service Avalanche Center, https://www.fsavalanche.org/
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Life in the Cold by Peter Marchand:https://www.upne.com/9619460.html

Forest Service National Avalanche Center, Avalanche Awareness Website: https://www.fsavalanche.org/

Depth Hoar: https://www.fsavalanche.org/encyclopedia/depth_hoar.htm

Utah Avalanche Center: https://utahavalanchecenter.org/