Grand Mesa

You can trigger an avalanche on smooth, planar slopes that face northwest through north to east, particularly at higher elevations. In these areas, close to two feet of snow fell last week during two separate storms and built a cohesive slab that rests on top of old, weak snow from October. You can reduce your chances of triggering an avalanche by sticking to slopes that had no snow prior to last week's storms including most southerly and west-facing terrain, where the snow from late October melted.