Grand Mesa

You can trigger an avalanche on northerly and east-facing slopes on the Grand and Battlement Mesas where a slab about a foot thick rests on top of old weak snow. On wind-loaded terrain features such as the lee side of a ridgeline or inside of a gully, the slab is thicker and these avalanches may grow large enough to bury you. If you see signs of unstable snow such as cracking and collapsing while traveling in the backcountry move to slopes less than about 30 degrees steep without any similarly steep slopes overhead.