Sawatch

Recent avalanche activity shows the clear potential of triggering a deadly avalanche. Don't let your guard down. Consider that you can trigger large avalanches from afar right now. You might not get any feedback from the snowpack until you find the wrong spot and bring down a massive avalanche. The best way to avoid being caught is to keep a conservative mindset and avoid travel on adjacent to, or below steep avalanche terrain. Watch out for small loose avalanches on Thursday afternoon. For visual impact, here's a montage of the last week's large avalanches from around the state.

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 in the Middle Fork of Mineral Creek drainage. 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 and here.