Vail & Summit County

You can trigger a very large avalanche with no warning. Over the last few days, we have seen multiple avalanches on slopes with many tracks on them. There is almost no way to know where you can trigger a slide on a slope, and you will not get any warning signs like cracking or collapsing. You can trigger a slide from a distance and below. Most aspects are suspect, but northwest through east to southeast facing slopes will be the most dangerous. The only way to manage this hazard is to avoid slopes steeper than 30 degrees.

On February 20 and 22, backcountry snowboarders were caught and killed in avalanches in separate incidents. One west of the town of Silverton on a terrain feature locally known as The Nose. The other was near the summit of Berthoud Pass in a terrain feature locally known as The Fingers. In both fatal accidents, the avalanches broke several feet deep and spread wide across multiple terrain features. You can read the preliminary accident reports here andhere.