Southern San Juan

You can easily trigger avalanches in the fresh storm snow. Gullies and below ridgelines on northerly facing slopes where winds have drifted snow, will have thicker slabs of snow that can break deeper and wider. Avoid steep slopes where you find more than about eight inches of new or wind-drifted snow that cracks or collapses. Although weak layers are buried deeply, the avalanche you trigger in the surface snow could step down, creating a deadly slide. Exposed rocks and trees or along the edge and base of a slope where the slab thins are the most likely places you could trigger a deeper slide. Traveling on smooth, planar slopes where the snowpack is deeper than about five feet reduces the chances of triggering a giant avalanche. You can find safer travel on slopes sheltered from the wind and lower-elevation slopes without steeper terrain overhead.