Vail & Summit County

Avalanche conditions are dangerous. You likely won't see or hear any warning signs before triggering a deeply breaking, deadly avalanche. Drifted, rocky slopes below ridgelines and convex rollovers are the most likely places you can trigger a slide. Several big avalanches were triggered over the last few days after multiple tracks were placed on a slope. Avalanches can be triggered from flat areas below steep slopes and lower-angle connected slopes. To stay safe in these conditions, give suspect slopes a wide berth. Choose lower-angle terrain and smaller slopes without terrain traps.

On February 20 and 22, backcountry snowboarders were caught and killed in avalanches in separate incidents. One west of the town of Silverton on a terrain feature locally known as The Nose. The other was near the summit of Berthoud Pass in a terrain feature locally known as The Fingers. In both fatal accidents, the avalanches broke several feet deep and spread wide across multiple terrain features. You can read the preliminary accident reports here andhere.