Avalanche conditions are quite dangerous in Colorado heading into this weekend, with a lot of new snow touching the ground. While the avalanche warning period that was active since around Christmas has now expired, there are plenty of regions of orange throughout the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s avalanche forecast, and nobody should assume that the conditions are even close to safe.
In the past week alone there have been 455 avalanches in Colorado, with around 40% of them being large enough to burry, injure, or kill a person. Additionally, avalanches are occurring on almost all aspects and elevations, with just the exception of low elevation southerly. They’re also breaking near the ground in many areas, triggered from hundreds of feet to more than a thousand feet away. As such, most slopes steeper than 30° need to be given a very wide buffer.
CAIC’s Brian Lazar goes over the conditions and why they’re so dangerous in the CAIC Weekly Avalanche Report.
“We’ve got a lot of new snow on a weak snowpack, creating highly unstable conditions. People are triggering large and very large avalanches from hundreds, even more than 1,000 feet away, while standing on flat or low-angle terrain. Give steep slopes a wide buffer, and know your usual safe places might not be safe right now. Go to Colorado.gov/avalanche for the latest information.“