Vail & Summit County

A Special Avalanche Advisory is in effect for the Gore Range. Over a foot of dense snow since Friday created dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision-making are essential to safely travel in the backcountry.

You can easily trigger an avalanche in the new snow that grows large enough to bury you. On northerly and easterly-facing slopes these avalanches could step down into deeper buried weak layers growing much larger than you anticipate. You can reduce your chances of triggering an avalanche by avoiding slopes steeper than about 30 degrees with over a foot of new snow.