Gunnison

You can trigger a large and destructive avalanche, you can trigger them from a distance, and they can break wider and run farther than you expect. You probably won't see any signs of instability such as cracking or collapsing in the snow before you trigger one of these deadly avalanches. The most dangerous slopes face west through north to southeast. If you decide to travel on steep slopes facing these directions anyway, avoid slopes that already avalanched earlier this season and avoid slopes with terrain traps such as a gully or cliff below to increase your chances of survival.

Some areas around the Ragged and Ruby Mountains received around two feet of new, light snow on Saturday. If you notice well over a foot of new snow on steep slopes you might be able to trigger a small avalanche in the storm snow. The greater danger is a small avalanche stepping down to deeper weak layers and triggering a much larger avalanche on slopes facing the north half of the compass. You can always stick to slopes less than about 30 degrees steep without similarly steep slopes overhead to drastically reduce your chances of being caught in an avalanche.