Southern San Juan

Weak snow looms below thick slabs of cohesive snow on most slopes increasing the chance to trigger an avalanche large enough to bury, injure, or kill you. Triggering a smaller avalanche from a wind-drifted area could provoke a larger, more dangerous slide that breaks deeper into weak snow layers three to four feet below the surface and broader across slopes than you might expect. You are more likely to impact buried weak snow and trigger a slide near slab margins or around rocky outcrops where the snowpack is shallower. You may not observe cracking or hear audible collapses, but if you do, it is an early warning sign of unstable snow below. Give yourself an extra buffer traveling below or adjacent to bigger terrain and avoid all steep slopes unless you very carefully evaluate the snowpack and find an absence of buried weak snow layers.