Cullen,

To add to what Brittany said, we would also recommend that you read your local avalanche center bulletin on a daily basis, and really try to understand what they’re seeing and the mechanisms that are changing conditions. Even on days when you’re not skiing, this will keep your “head in the game”. Also, keep in mind that when we skied this, it was early October after (for the most part) one storm cycle. That snow has since turned to facets on many aspects, and the most recent storm has been producing a lot of avalanche activity and close calls in much of CO. Currently, it’s time to dial it back a bit…

Hi Cullen – Putting things like this in writing is often difficult. We highly recommend you take and avalanche course if you have not already. We also recommend going out in the backcountry with someone experienced with traveling through avalanche terrain. However, to answer your question – we thought it would be on the safe side to ski this slope because there was only one real storm and it came in heavy and ended up light. Having a heavy/dense layer of snow on the bottom without much of a layer underneath helps to set a stable base.