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(KSL News) After three avalanche deaths in eight days, the Utah Avalanche Center urges all backcountry travelers to get to know the snow conditions.
Recent avalanches were caused by new snow overloading buried, weak layers near the base of the snowpack. The director of the Avalanche Center likens it to a brick being placed on top of a pile of potato chips.
The dangerous conditions do not exist everywhere, just in the thinner snowpack areas, like the Uinta Mountains, where danger remains considerable.
The Wasatch Range has a deeper, stronger snowpack, where danger is moderate.