Grand Mesa

Friday's westerly winds continued to drift snow above treeline. Saturday will be much less windy, but where you find a recent drift on a slick crust you can still trigger a small avalanche. Steer around these stiff smooth drifts on steep slopes below corniced ridgelines and in cross-loaded alpine gullies. Most avalanches will be small, but they could become dangerous in consistently steep or cliffy terrain. Note this past week, we received two reports of avalanches breaking on deeper weak layers in areas that held a generally shallow snowpack through the winter. Choose wind-sheltered or wind-scoured terrain to avoid the problem.

Start and end your day early to avoid small wet avalanche concerns on Saturday afternoon.