Grand Mesa

Your main concern for Thursday is triggering a loose wet avalanche, particularly at elevations below around 11,000 feet. These avalanches will mostly be small, and confined to surface snow sheeting off of underlying crusts. But even these small slides can entrain enough debris to bury or injure a person in steep continuous terrain. Small avalanches could grow in size as they move downhill and gouge to the ground on low-elevation slopes. Beware of trapdoor conditions where you fall through the snowpack onto the ground. The easiest way to avoid these problems is to start and end your day early. The snow can rapidly change from supportable to soggy and dangerous.