Northern San Juan

You are most likely to trigger a large avalanche on previously wind-affected slopes that face northeast and east. Avoid traveling near common trigger points, such as convex rollovers, rocky outcrops, or the edges of slopes where the margins of a slab are the thinnest. Give yourself a wide buffer from suspect slopes steeper than around 35 degrees. You may not experience obvious signs of instability before triggering a slide.

Recent winds drifted snow onto lee slopes. Small slabs of wind-drifted snow are often found adjacent to ridgelines in concave features and on the edges of gullies. Avoid steep slopes if you see cracking in recently drifted snow.