Northern San Juan

You can trigger a large and dangerous avalanche if you find a shallow spot in the slab on a steep, shady slope. The most dangerous slopes face the north half of the compass, where the slab sits on top of weak faceted snow. You may not experience any signs of instability, such as cracking or collapsing, before triggering an avalanche. As such, previous tracks on a slope do not mean it won't slide.

Keep it simple by choosing simple terrain and planar slopes. Look for and avoid likely trigger points, like the thinner margins of a slab, convex rollovers, and shallowly buried rocks.