The massive storm system that swept Colorado this week dumping up to two feet of snow is over and skies are looking blue over the holiday weekend – but that doesn't mean you should head to the backcountry in search of , officials say. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued a stern warning yesterday highlighting the hazardous avalanche conditions that exist across the state. "The avalanches are growing in size with avalanches large enough to bury, injure or kill a person," says CAIC Deputy Director Brian Lazar.
"More worrisome is that you can trigger these things now from a distance or from below." The video, which you can watch below, shows a recent example from the Elk Mountains of an avalanche being triggered from a distance and breaking 1,000 feet wide – that's eight football pitches laid end to end. "We need much wider buffers around avalanche terrain.
" With so much fresh stuff out there and the resorts busy for the holiday weekend, backcountry enthusiasts will be keen to get off the beaten path on skis or and it's this, in addition to statewide persistent slab avalanche behavior, that Lazar says increases the danger. "We need people to remember that although the peak of the avalanche instability has passed us, we've got very dangerous avalanche conditions going through the weekend," warns Lazar. As we explain in our article on , avalanches can occur on any slope that is 30 degrees or more and is covered in snow and ice.
Unstable snowpack is the most dangero.