Grand Mesa

You can trigger an avalanche that breaks on a layer of weak snow buried around two to three feet deep. On sustained, steep slopes these avalanches can easily grow large enough to bury you. On smaller slopes such as slope cuts above snowmobile trails or in a gully, these avalanches will be small but can be dangerous if you are knocked over and carried into a terrain trap such as a creek or a cliff. You can reduce your chances of being injured or worse in an avalanche by avoiding travel on large, steep slopes on aspects of concern and by identifying and avoiding terrain traps if you are traveling on any slopes steeper than about 30 degrees.