Steamboat & Flat Tops

Strong winds combined with new snow are creating dangerous avalanche conditions. You can trigger a large, deadly avalanche on any slope where you find more than about eight inches of new or wind-drifted snow resting on weak snow near the ground. Strong winds can drift snow further down the slope than you expect and into unusual places. Look for and avoid bulbous pillows of snow below ridgelines and on the sides of gullies and downhill of convex rollovers. Be especially suspect of steep northerly and easterly-facing slopes and avoid traveling on or below them at any elevation. You may not notice any signs of instability, like cracking and collapsing, before you trigger an avalanche. Stick to slopes less than about 30 degrees that are not connected to steeper slopes above.