Vail & Summit County

New snow on Wednesday night will drift into thick slabs on easterly slopes near and above treeline. This is where you can trigger the most dangerous avalanches. Avalanches that you trigger in drifted snow can step down to more deeply buried weak layers resulting in a hard-to-survive avalanche.

In wind-sheltered terrain, you might trigger an avalanche two to three feet deep that breaks on weaker layers of snow that were buried in early February. If you choose to travel on steep below-treeline slopes after evaluating the snowpack, choose terrain that is not complex without terrain traps.