Vail & Summit County

Strong winds drifted snow into dense slabs at upper elevations in recent days. The most hazardous slopes face a northerly and easterly direction where the wind drifted the most snow. Although these drifts are becoming more stubborn, you can still trigger a large avalanche in them, especially just below ridgelines and in gully features. These slopes also harbor crust-facet combinations and facets buried one to two feet deep that are responsible for recent larger slides. If you trigger an avalanche at the surface, it can easily step down to a buried weak layer. Multiple sets of tracks on a slope do not mean it is safe and you could trigger an avalanche from a distance. You might not see any cracking in one of these firm slabs before you find the sweet spot and trigger a widely propagating avalanche. You can find safer riding on lower-elevation slopes sheltered from the wind without a slab or on lower-angle slopes.