Sawatch

One to two-foot slabs of cohesive snow rest on a layer of very weak snow on most slopes. The most dangerous slopes face northerly and easterly directions. Here, you can trigger an avalanche from below a slope or from a distance and they can break near the ground and grow surprisingly large. To reduce your chances of triggering an avalanche avoid wind-loaded slopes such as the lee side of a ridge where the snow surface has a smooth, wave-like appearance, and avoid any steep slopes where you find more than about a foot and a half of new snow on top of weak, cohesionless snow beneath. You can tell the difference between the new snow and the old, weak snow as you can make a snowball with the new snow and the weak layer will just fall through your fingers to the ground.