Before we pick out our line, we could just eyeball it and say "Ehhhh, I think it's probably roughly maybe about a 40-degree slope, I guess", or we could whip out the Backcountry Access Slope Meter and get a real reading of the angle of the slope you're checking out. BCA hooked this inclinometer up with red, orange, and yellow markings to easily point out the most dangerous slope angles, and included a cut-out with the same radius as our pole basket so we can get the most accurate reading.