Sawatch

Strong winds will drift new snow into dangerous slabs on steep slopes. You can easily trigger an avalanche where you find this stiff, wind-drifted snow mostly on east-facing slopes. Most of these avalanches will be small but on north through northeast to east-facing slopes they can break on weak snow near the ground and take the whole seasons snowpack down the slope on top of you. The easiest way to find safer slopes is to travel in wind-sheltered areas, typically at lower elevations.