By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

Following a weekend when elevated avalanche danger resulted in several fatalities across the state, officials with the Utah Avalanche Center are urging caution as the weekend approaches for those looking to explore the high country.

To look at the danger levels specifically along the Manti Skyline, Brett Kobernik from the UAC joined the KOAL newsroom to provide this week’s avalanche forecast.

“The avalanche conditions are all revolving around weak snow that formed during that very dry period in January, and even in the dry December, so there’s lots of weak snow at the base of the snowpack right now,” explained Kobernik. “And last week’s storm sure did make that weak layer show its cards, and we saw lots of avalanches, large avalanches, all over the state, as a matter of fact, and so that is what is causing all these avalanches. Now the warm-up is, you know, things were still unstable before it got warm. Now the warm-up has happened, and it’s just making things unstable in a different way, and we’re starting to see wet avalanches in mid-elevations where those temperatures are really warm.”

Kobernik also discussed the deadly weekend seen across the state last week,” The conditions were very touchy all over the state, and we had issued avalanche warnings for basically all the mountains in Utah, which is, you don’t see that very often. Oftentimes, you see different conditions in different regions, but man, this has been a really widespread problem.”

He continued,” Unfortunately, there were a number of accidents where people were completely buried. Two people were killed. One person is still on life support in the hospital right now. So it was a very deadly weekend for avalanches last weekend. And the thing is, we’re not done with all this week’s snow yet. We’re still going to need to be paying attention to this stuff, and as far as I can see, we’re going to need to use caution through the remainder of this shallow and thin winter.”

Moving to the full forecast, Kobernik shared,” We are sitting at a considerable avalanche danger rating, and that’s an elevated danger rating. And it does mean that human-triggered avalanches are likely, and we’re going to see this extend into the weekend and, most likely, through most of next week as well, as we may start seeing more snow. We may see some wet avalanche activity, natural avalanche activity, again, in those mid-elevations this weekend, and temperatures are going to remain fairly warm.”

The avalanche expert added,” There’s no way that you will find me doing my field work on anything steep. The way to stay safe out there when you’re traveling in the backcountry is to stay on low-angle slopes and make sure you stay out from under steep slopes as well. This is imperative because with this type of weak layer, you could trigger avalanches from flat terrain, and if you’re underneath a steep slope, that avalanche can release and come down on top of you. So not only stay off steep slopes right now, but also stay out from underneath them.”

Due to the danger, Kobernik emphasized the importance of being properly equipped while exploring the high country – namely, utilizing an avalanche beacon. “I just want to point out that one of these avalanche fatalities did involve an avalanche beacon that was, unfortunately, the victim had his beacon on him, but he had failed to turn the thing on at the beginning of the day. And so when his partners went to look for him, he was not transmitting a signal, and they were unable to find him. It is very important to carry all that rescue equipment, avalanche beacon, avalanche shovel, and avalanche probe, but you need to know how to use that stuff as well.”

Closing our conversation, Kobernik encouraged everyone to stay up to date with the avalanche forecast,” Just continue to check that forecast. This weather is so wild, I have no idea what to anticipate coming up. But what we do know is that we have weak snow in place, and so continue to check that forecast to see what the current conditions are.”

To stay up to date with avalanche conditions along the Manti Skyline or other mountain ranges across the state, visit utahavalanchecenter.org.