Sangre de Cristo

You can trigger a slab avalanche where wind-drifted snow rests on top of weak snow buried near the ground. You can identify these slopes by their smooth, rounded, often wave-like snow surface appearance and the hollow, hard feeling if you are traveling on them. You can find safer options on thinly snow-covered slopes that lack a stiff slab - where the snowpack remains soft top-to-bottom, southerly-facing slopes topped with a hard melt-freeze crust, bare ground, or slopes less than about 30 degrees.

A strong winter storm will impact the area beginning Friday night and lasting through the weekend. You can expect the avalanche danger to increase as snowfall accumulates.