Vail & Summit County

Winds back to the west and increase on Saturday. You can easily trigger avalanches where you find more than about 10 inches of recently drifted snow. The bigger hazard is slides that break 2 or 3 feet down on buried weak layers. These weak layers are well-connected across slopes, and avalanches breaking on these layers will be difficult to survive. The most dangerous slopes are steep, open slopes below corniced ridges that face northwest through north to southeast.

With easterly winds during the storm and westerly winds after, you can find drifted and cross-loaded pillows of snow on even more upper-elevation slopes. Smaller slides in drifted snow can easily trigger large, more deadly avalanches. You may also be able to trigger an avalanche by traveling on flat slopes beneath steep terrain or on low-angle slopes that are adjacent to and connected with steeper slopes.

Careful planning and conservative terrain selection are essential this weekend.