New snow brings dangerous avalanche conditions to Colorado's mountains for the holiday weekend

A Special Avalanche Advisory is in effect for the Elk and West Elk Mountains, as new snowfall is expected to create dangerous avalanche conditions heading into the holiday weekend.

According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), avalanche danger will increase beginning Friday and last through Sunday. Backcountry users can easily trigger avalanches in these areas, and some slides may be large enough to bury or kill a person, with certain avalanches breaking all the way to the ground.

"It's a big uptick in avalanche danger that is coinciding with fresh snow, really nice weekend weather, and a holiday weekend," said Brian Lazar with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. "When you combine all of those ingredients, it gives us the recipe for an avalanche accident, so we want people to be on extra alert, particularly in the central mountains."

Avalanche danger is rated considerable (3 out of 5) in the Park Range north of Steamboat Springs, where more than a foot of new snow is expected. Lazar says clear warning signs include shooting cracks in the snowpack and recent avalanche activity.

In other mountain areas where snowfall totals are closer to 4 to 8 inches, avalanche danger remains moderate (2 out of 5). Even so, Lazar cautions that isolated slopes could still produce large and dangerous avalanches.

According to CAIC, the heightened risk is linked to thin crusts formed during recent warm weather from rainfall or melting snow. Weak layers have developed around those crusts, allowing avalanches to break beneath the accumulating storm snow.

"What makes this especially dangerous is that they're behaving in really hard-to-predict ways," Lazar explained. "That's a classic characteristic of a persistent slab avalanche problem — they're being triggered from a distance."

Lazar says safer options for backcountry travel include lower-angle slopes less than 30 degrees, terrain below treeline, and areas not connected to known avalanche paths.

Backcountry users are urged to check the latest avalanche forecast, carry proper safety gear, and make conservative decisions throughout the holiday weekend.