Northern San Juan

You can trigger avalanches where you find a shallow spot in the slab on a steep slope. Avalanches that break on buried weak layers will break in the middle or bottom of the snowpack. The most dangerous slopes face the north half of the compass.

Choose low-angle planar slopes and avoid likely trigger points, like the thinner margins of a slab, convex rollovers, and shallow buried rocks.

On March 7th, a backcountry skier was caught and killed in an avalanche near Vail Pass. The avalanche released on a northeast-facing slope near treeline, about 2-3 feet deep. Our deepest condolences to the deceased skier's family, friends, and community. You can read the preliminary accident report here.