This week we saw some really cold temperatures in the valleys which means it was subzero temperatures up in the high country, and it produced a few inches of snow as well. Castle Country Radio took time to sit down with Utah Avalanche Center’s Brett Kobernik to get all the details.

“I don’t think it’s going to be all time epic riding conditions up there but its going to be good. Anytime we get fresh snow, obviously, it freshens up the conditions and the nice thing is we’re not dealing with a whole lot of avalanche danger. So people are going to be able to go up there and recreate safely and not be real scared about triggering some large avalanche that’s going to come down and injure or bury or kill them,” said Kobernik. People are urged to follow the normal safe backcountry protocol. Please continue to avoid steep slopes, slopes that are steeper than 30 degrees, especially in the upper elevations where there is the most snow.

If you do plan on going near steep slopes, be sure to proceed with caution. “The other thing folks should keep in mind is that if they are going out and getting into steeper terrain, and you know it’s not a bad time to do this right now because we do have a fairly low avalanche danger. So you can get on to some of those steeper slopes, you know we don’t like to talk about always just stay away from the steep slopes. We try to give you information to let you know when its okay to get on to some of that stuff and it relatively safe right now,” said Kobernik. When visiting avalanche terrain, it’s important to have the proper avalanche gear with you, such as an avalanche beacon, a probe and a shovel. It’s a good idea to make time to practice with these items so that when it comes to an emergency situation you will know what to do with the gear.

“When you are getting out in the backcountry, we got the Avalanche Center Forecast, good resource for people to check. Those forecasts are updated every day by about 7:00 am, so that will give you information about the current avalanche danger and it will give you some information what kind of weather to expect in the high country. Those weather forecasts in the daily avalanche forecast are specific to the mountain weather so that’s something you don’t have a lot of resources that have specific mountain weather forecast,” said Kobernik. There are some storms coming up that are going to be really active and could produce several inches in the high country.

Officials don’t want to discourage folks from recreating on public lands but do want them to be aware of the conditions before they head out. To keep up to date on avalanche conditions you can visit the Utah Available Center website at https://utahavalanchecenter.org/