Front Range

Avalanches are getting harder to trigger, but if you find the wrong spot on a slope, you can trigger a deadly avalanche. The slide you trigger will take the entire season's snowpack off the hill. Wind-loaded aspects are where avalanches will be largest, and you are most likely to trigger them from convex rollovers and shallower areas with exposed rocks and trees. Multiple people could travel a slope before you trigger an avalanche. You can find safer riding on slopes sheltered from the wind with soft snow and low-angled slopes.

On February 20 and 22, backcountry snowboarders were caught and killed in avalanches in separate incidents. One west of the town of Silverton on a terrain feature locally known as The Nose. The other was near the summit of Berthoud Pass in a terrain feature locally known as The Fingers. In both fatal accidents, the avalanches broke several feet deep and spread wide across multiple terrain features. You can read the preliminary accident reports here andhere.