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LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON -- The mountain snow is appealing to all the skiers and snowboarders, but it also comes with a warning. The avalanche danger was high Sunday following a small slide in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The good news is no one was trapped or hurt. Unified police say the slide happened in the in-bounds area of Mineral Fork at Snowbird. However, Snowbird said it happened outside of the Snowbird ski area.
Despite the fact no one was injured, experts say this slide shows just how high the avalanche danger is right now. Heavy, wet snow over the past two days is sitting on top of a weak layer, creating that risk.
The Forest Service has issued avalanche warnings for all the mountains in northern, central and southern Utah. There is an increasing avalanche danger in all mountains through Monday morning.
"As of this morning, the highest danger exists in the Provo and Ogden area mountains," said Evelyn Lees with the Utah Avalanche Center. "With a cold front coming in tonight, we're going to have even more snow and some strong winds late this afternoon through the night."
The highest danger right now is in Provo. There are some very active slides in Provo Canyon but they have not hit the road.
Ogden is also very active and there are blizzard conditions in the mountains in the higher elevations. Natural and human-triggered avalanches are likely, so travel in avalanche terrain or the back country is not recommended.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
