Sawatch

You can trigger a dangerous avalanche on steep slopes that face west through north to southeast. Most of these slopes have a layer of weak snow, but only some have a cohesive slab on top, creating a dangerous combination. You are most likely to encounter this slab-over-weak-layer setup above 10,500 feet on wind-drifted snow. Signs of instability, such as cracking or collapsing, may not appear until you are already on a dangerous slope. TSafer travel options exist by avoiding slopes steeper than about 30 degrees on these aspects of concern.