Northern San Juan

Look for and avoid wind-drifted areas. You can identify these more-dangerous areas by looking for fresh cornices, smooth pillows of snow, a hard hollow-sounding snow surface, or cracking in the freshly drifted snow. The most dangerous slopes are easterly-facing, near and above the treeline. If you trigger an avalanche in the wind-drifted snow, it can break into to deeper buried weak layers, resulting in a more dangerous slide. Move to less-steep terrain if you see cracking in the surface snow. You can find safer riding in wind-sheltered areas and below the treeline.