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Planning on taking a group of eight varsity scouts (14-18). We were planning on going to Big Cottonwood Mill B where we had a Bogley snowshoe fest in 2010, but the current conditions are high for avalanche around that entire area.
Anyone been up there in the last couple of days? We are coming from the Layton/Ogden area, so we are looking for something around an hour or less drive and there is little to absolutely no snow by us.
avalanche danger level is high/extreme. from UAC "HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS HAVE EASILY OVERLOADED A WEAK AND FRAGILE PRE-EXISTING SNOWPACK RESULTING IN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED."
best to stay away from any slopes or gullies below those slopes. a place with a large flat plateau away from steep slope run outs would be a safer area. does that exist in bcc or lcc?
Why not Snowbasin? If you park in the overflow parking and head North towards Maples campground there should be no avalanche danger there. Nice hike for snow shoes. Or even start lower at Green Pond trail head and hike up towards Strawberry.
Mill Creek Canyon?
We tried going up to the trailhead we went to a couple of years ago, but it was near white out conditions. We drove back down to the Mount Haven trailhead. We only went in 1.2 miles. It was pouring down. It wasn't too long after we left that there was a slide at White Pine and they closed down the canyon.
Getting into even lower Mill B South requires crossing several avalanche paths. Danger right now is tricky and very high. Unless your entire group are experts in travel in avalanche terrain and all have beacons, probes, and shovels (and the knowledge to use them) don't go there.
Try Mill D North Fork. If you stay on the summer trail, you can avoid most avalanche issues. Another safe tour would be Willow Fork no higher than the lake. Of course, you can still get caught in a slide in these places, but if you travel conservatively and understand the snowpack, you can make it very safe.
Do you understand terrain traps? Even very small gullies can produce deadly slides because they bury you deeply. If anything I've said confuses you in any way, wait until Spring. This isn't the year to learn how to travel in avalanche terrain like Mill B South.
i went backpacking/snowshoeing this past weekend in the unitas. went about 10.5 miles from kamas to the trailhead for norway flats. the utah nordic alliance (TUNA) has a yurt up there that is pretty nice. sleeps eights, has a wood burning stove, a gas stove to cook by, and a gas lantern. it is about a four mile hike. i did it last year with the 14-15 year old boys from my church and it took about three hours. this past weekend i did it with my marathoner friends in one hour forty-five minutes. made it down in one hour two minutes. though it was really cold outside, we were in the mid seventies inside. thank goodness for wood burning stoves.