Aspen

You can easily trigger a slab avalanche where you find around a foot of freshly deposited snow on some north and east-facing slopes. The uppermost buried weak layer is the most delicate in shadier, wind-sheltered terrain features. If you see cracking in the new snow, you've located one of these areas and should move to lower-angled terrain or a slope facing another direction. Once an avalanche starts, it might break into deeper buried weak layers 2 to 3 feet down, like one reported Sunday near Ashcroft.

Strong winds have and will continue to drift snow onto east and southeast-facing slopes. An avalanche might slide above a stiff, icy layer in the upper snowpack around 1 or 2 feet deep.