Uintas Conditions 2013

[Dave]

Taking a look at the satellite imagery tonight... the Murdock Basin is starting to clear out. The road to Cataract Gorge should be clear. The Stillwater drainage is clear until you start climbing up into the basins. Snow level is mostly above 10k feet now by the looks of things.

 

[Nick]

Has anyone posted a link to that cool satellite snow depth thing?

 

[Dave]

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/earth/

EDIT: I just spoke with the top water/runoff guru for the state of Utah. He says stream flows in most places have dropped 60-80 percent in the last 7-10 days. In other words, the runoff season is pretty much done. There's not a lot of water left in the high-elevation snowpack.

Utah didn't make any headway in banking runoff during the month of May. Most of the snowmelt went to replenishing soil moisture depleted last summer. What runoff did flow into reservoirs was offset by water use. The water hoarding at Flaming Gorge has that reservoir at 80% capacity right now, but Powell is down around 50%. Gunnison Reservoir is starting June completely empty.

 

[walker2013]

I am looking for info on conditions in Grandaddy Basin as well. Hoping to go up on the 18th of June. We are going to access via Rock Creek Trailhead (Upper Stillwater Res.) We were maybe even going to venture up to Four Lakes Basin and even over Rocky Sea Pass. Am I dreaming, or is it a possibility?

 

[Dave]

If it stays sunny and warm you'll probably be fine. Satellite sensing shows snow is 20+ inches deep in the Grandaddy Basin above 10k feet, but there's only about 10 inches of water in the snow. It shed one to two inches of water in just the last day.

 

[Aldaron]

I don't know if they do it every year, but one year we went to Rock Creek in June, and they had the trailhead closed until July because of rock fall along the beginning of the trail. And I got the feeling it was an annual closure, but I'm not certain.

 

[Aldaron]

I just googled it, and I found a guide book that says the Rock Creek trailhead is closed every year until June 30th because of rock fall. Unless, of course, they've barricaded the rocks by now. You may want to check with the ranger station before you drive all the way out there.

 

[bscuderi]

Doing the southesast slope today i have my fingers crossed. The sattelite shows it snow free nit sure its 100 percent accurate. Called ranger station for grandaddy not only did the sat show 20 inches but the road is avalanched in to the grandview trailhead

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[Dave]

I should be up around East Fork of the Bear this weekend... hopefully I'll get a decent look at the basins. It'll be a new moon. With any luck we'll have cloud-free skies for epic stargazing.

 

[MtnMatt]

I should be up around East Fork of the Bear this weekend... hopefully I'll get a decent look at the basins. It'll be a new moon. With any luck we'll have cloud-free skies for epic stargazing.

Looking forward to hearing what you find up there...I was supposed to be up there last night camping with my son instead of sitting in a boring auditorium for graduation. His friends talked him into staying around here since they will all be heading out on missions pretty soon. looks like we won't get up there for another week now.

 

[ogdendude]

I backpacked up the Rock Creek trailhead one Memorial Weekend when that May was unusually warm and dry. Probably about 1999 I would guess.

Am I correct in thinking that the Grandview Trailhead was closed or was going to be closed and the road going to it as a way to reduce pressure on the Granddaddy Basin? I thought they closed the road and make you park much lower.

 

[Dave]

Looking forward to hearing what you find up there...I was supposed to be up there last night camping with my son instead of sitting in a boring auditorium for graduation.

Snow-free below 9,500 feet. Isolated shallow drifts from 9,500 to 9,800. Deeper drifts above 10,000 feet. Steep slopes above 11,000 are still pretty snowy. Snow is melting fast though... a lot of the meadows are drier than I'd expect. East Fork of the Bear is running relatively high with snowmelt. You might be able to get into the Stillwater and East Fork basins by next week but there will be snow drifts at the very least.

 

[Nick]

Where exactly did you go ashergrey?

 

[Dave]

Scow Lake in the Boundary Creek drainage, between Stillwater and East Fork.

 

[Aldaron]

I made it up to about 10,600 just south of Granddaddy Mountain before I started hitting deep drifts.

 

[Artemus]

EDIT: I just spoke with the top water/runoff guru for the state of Utah.

Hey Asher... What is his name?

 

[Udink]

I made it up to about 10,600 just south of Granddaddy Mountain before I started hitting deep drifts.

From Grandview TH? Can you drive to the TH? Hades Pass is just barely over 10,600'. Sounds like in a couple of weeks everything will be golden.

 

[Dave]

Hey Asher... What is his name?

Randall Julander, with the USDA's Utah snow survey program.

 

[Aldaron]

From Grandview TH? Can you drive to the TH?

No, we went up the Slope Rd (I think that's the name) south of Stillwater Reservoir. I started to head up to Grandview, but we spent a lot of time walking around at Slope so we ended up just heading back home.

 

[walker2013]

No, we went up the Slope Rd (I think that's the name) south of Stillwater Reservoir. I started to head up to Grandview, but we spent a lot of time walking around at Slope so we ended up just heading back home.

Did you make it to Stillwater?