Gunnison

You may not see any obvious signs of instability such as shooting cracks or collapsing in the snowpack before you trigger a large and unsurvivable avalanche. You can trigger them from hundreds of feet away and they will break wider and run farther than you anticipate. Tracks on a slope and slopes that avalanched earlier this season do not mean that slope is safe. Cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making are essential to travel in the backcountry and make it back home safely. Your best option for safer travel options is to avoid traveling on and underneath slopes steeper than about 30 degrees that could produce an avalanche large enough to bury you.