Vail & Summit County

You are most likely to trigger a deadly Wet Slab avalanche in steep rocky terrain. Areas with a higher likelihood of triggering a slide are thin areas along the edges of a slope. Thursday night, the surface will freeze, but you can still trigger an avalanche on wet snow beneath the surface. Step off your floatation or dig to see if there is wet snow beneath a crust, and avoid steep slopes if you find this.

On high elevation north and northeast slopes, you could trigger an avalanche on buried weak layers. Rocky steep slopes will be the most dangerous, and there could be multiple sets of tracks before you trigger an avalanche. Slopes less than 35 degrees are safer.