Southern San Juan

Low-density storm snow around a foot thick sitting on top of weak, cohesionless snow increases your chance to trigger an avalanche. Soft slabs of snow can become more reactive as the snow settles into a more cohesive slab, or where the wind built stiffer drifts. Be wary of slopes steeper than about 30 degrees where you see cracking in the snow, if the storm snow becomes stiffer, or you find evidence of drifting like smooth, lens-shaped pillows of snow. An avalanche triggered on a wind-loaded slope with a harder layer below has the best chance of breaking wider than expected. Lower in elevation, very weak cohesionless snow sits below the recent snowfall, so watch out for fast-moving sluffs that may gouge deeper into older snow layers making a more significant pile of snow at the bottom.