Grand Mesa

Current Conditions 

You can trigger wet avalanches on steep slopes after melt-freeze crusts become unsupportable and you find yourself sinking into wet snow. Start your day early and end early to reduce your risk of avalanches. Have a plan to avoid steep slopes and get back to the trailhead should conditions worsen quicker than you think.

 Avalanche and Snowpack Discussion

Even with recent hot temperatures, clear skies at night helped to form supportable, surface melt-freeze crusts that allowed for a few hours of safe travel early in the morning. If you get on the snow and find mushy, wet conditions before the sun even rises, change your plans.

Over the past week, we had a few reports of large avalanches. One was a cornice-triggered avalanche near Loveland Pass, and the other was a large Wet Slab avalanche in Rocky Mountain National Park on Mount Ida on a north-facing slope. Avalanche activity isn't widespread, but we are seeing enough large avalanches to remain concerned.

It is hard to pinpoint a specific aspect and elevation where the most dangerous conditions exist, but you can identify the characteristics of the slope where you are more likely to trigger a large avalanche. These characteristics are steeper than 40 degrees, slopes with a lot of exposed rock, and slopes with a shallow snowpack. Avoid these spots to increase your margin of safety.

Large, overhanging cornices are still a concern. If they fall onto the slope below, their weight alone can trigger a large avalanche as they gauge deeply into the snowpack. Cornices are also a threat if you are walking on ridgelines. They can break much further back than you expect, especially during warm weather.

The snowpack and avalanche conditions are not as straightforward as is normal this time of year. Fortunately, it is easy to see and feel worsening conditions while you are in the backcountry. You need supportable crusts to travel right now. If you are punching through into the snowpack, avoid steep slopes.

Weather

You can get current weather forecasts by clicking the map on the CAIC's Weather Forecast page. Our computer Model Forecasts update four times daily and will run through the summer. If you are going into the Colorado high country, use our Weather Stations page to check current conditions.

We will update this avalanche information as conditions change. Click the map to get the latest conditions. Please keep sending us your field reports. We rely on your information to stay current on avalanche conditions across the state. There have been fatal avalanche accidents every month of the year in Colorado, so don't let your guard down.