I was not able to ski the side country at Solitude today. Access gate was closed. I saw a patroller and asked if it might open later. He said no way, the snow was warming very rapidly and they were extremely worried. It felt like 70 degrees in the sun when I came off the mountainat 1:00but was actually only 37. On my way down I saw lots of snowballs and "wheels" that had rolled down from the heights to the edge of the road. This is a bad sign. I once started a bunch of wheels myself in the Gulf of Slides at Mt. Washington. I did not know what this meant at the time. My skis would peel a wave of snow and it would roll over on itself starting what looked like a roll of turf. Cool! Some must have weighed hundreds of pounds when they reached the bottom and smashed. When I told a more avy savvy friend later his eyes got as big as saucers.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53643038-78/avalanche-utah-mountains-saturday.html.cspI skied Blackjack on Friday. Another avalanche closed the little Cottonwood Canyon road today. It was the third closing in 3 days, all for the same reason.