Check the avalanche forecast before winter travel near Wolf Creek Pass

Wolf Creek Pass, east of Pagosa Springs, is known for snow. The terrain above the highway is steep, and it collects some of the deepest snowpack in the state. The same snow that makes the nearby ski area famous also makes the backcountry around the pass avalanche country.

Two things follow from that. First, on the highway itself, CDOT crews actively manage avalanche paths in winter, which is one reason the pass sometimes closes for control work. Second, off the road, there is no forecast just for the pass. Instead, this terrain falls inside the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s Southern San Juan zone, one of the regional backcountry forecasts CAIC publishes through the winter, with a danger rating and a plain explanation of what is going on in the snowpack.

If you ski, snowshoe, snowmobile, or even just park to play in the snow off the plowed road, reading that zone forecast is the basic first step. A slope does not have to be huge or steep-looking to slide, and people are caught every winter in terrain that looked harmless. Avalanche danger also changes day to day with new snow, wind, and temperature, so yesterday’s “fine” is not today’s.

This note does not quote a current rating, because that is exactly the kind of thing you must check fresh.

Before any winter backcountry travel near Wolf Creek Pass, read the current Southern San Juan forecast from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.