Steamboat & Flat Tops

You can still easily trigger an avalanche in recent storm snow on steep slopes. The most hazardous slopes are northerly and easterly-facing where the wind built bigger drifts, but you can trigger an avalanche on slopes that face any direction and at all elevations. If you trigger an avalanche it may only break near the surface, but if it breaks down into deeper weak layers it will grow larger and become more destructive. There are buried weak layers from the beginning and middle of February. Cracking or collapsing in the new snow is a sign of instability, but you may not see any before you trigger an avalanche. Look for safer riding on lower-angle slopes that don’t have steep slopes above them.