Sangre de Cristo

The most dangerous slopes are those with more than about 8 inches of recent settled or drifted snow. You can trigger small wet avalanches on steep sun-exposed slopes by late morning. You could also trigger a small soft slab in cold, dry, pillowy snow at the highest elevations. Small avalanches can be dangerous in steep rocky terrain.

You can minimize these threats by starting and ending your day early and avoiding obvious pillows of drifted snow near ridgelines. If you observe slushy, unsupportable surface conditions and/or pinwheels and rollerballs coming out of our steep rocky terrain, move to colder, shadier slopes or exit avalanche terrain.