Sawatch

You can trigger a large and dangerous avalanche on many slopes, you can trigger it from a distance, and you might be able to travel across a slope many times before it breaks, bringing most, if not all, of the season's snowpack down on top of you. If you are traveling on or near northwest through east to southeast-facing steep slopes you should have a wide margin for error. If you move to south-facing slopes be careful of small loose avalanches as the sun warms up and wets the snow, while they will mostly be small they can still take you for a dangerous ride.

On February 20, a backcountry snowboarder was caught and killed in an avalanche on a terrain feature locally known as The Nose in the Middle Fork of Mineral Creek drainage, west of the town of Silverton. The avalanche occurred near treeline on a northeast-facing slope in the San Juan Mountains. You can read the preliminary accident report here.