Researchers Ian McCammon and Sara Boilen are developing new tools for managing human factors for backcountry skiers and boarders. This survey asks about personal experiences with human factors and will take 7 - 8 minutes to fill out. Link is HERE.

The remaining snow is melting fast, with nighttime temperatures staying well above freezing and summer-like, warm days... There is still a bit over three feet of snow at upper elevations, but rocks are rapidly starting to poke out of the soft snow, creating significant hazards in steep terrain. We've put the sleds away because it is difficult to ride anywhere without crossing melted-out areas, and we don't want to do damage to the ground or other forest resources. A few folks have been out in the backcountry, and they report decent Spring snow conditions at upper elevations despite the rapid melt-off.

Since all the trailheads and trails at low elevations have melted out, access to snow will be the challenge this weekend, limiting traffic in the high country. If you make it up into upper elevations, you should evaluate the snow carefully, since wet avalanches are possible on slopes steeper than 30 degrees. A weakening storm will cool things down this weekend in the mountains, but it will bring windy conditions and some rain and snow showers. A few inches of snow (3 to 6 inches) is expected to accumulate at upper elevations in the Bear River Range from a stronger storm system early next week.

An observer (Salsburg) found nice corn snow conditions and an old avalanche on Thursday (4/9) in east-facing terrain off Box Elder Peak in the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness.

Thank you to our backcountry community for your continued support—we truly couldn’t do this work without you. And a huge thank you to Ski-Doo; your generous support makes what we do possible.