wendy-cake 0 Posted January 7, 2003 Share Posted January 7, 2003 Put simply - how and where do they happen? Anyone fill me in with a simple explanation? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Wendy, Its Difficult to give a simple answer to that question because there are a lot of factors that make the right conditions for Avalanches. The snow, weather , slope aspect and angle and you the skier or boarder. You should consider any area outside a marked trail to be a potential avalanche zone and be prepared with the right equipment and training if you want to ride there. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Well said peaker. Look for signs of wind and wind loading of slopes. Also looking around while your out and about and you might see some Avlanches thats a sign too. Check out TGR web page and an article in there called red flags in the back country. web page Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by wendy-cake: Anyone fill me in with a simple explanation? Cheers hmmmm.......first I will give a simple explanation of the theory of relatively....... .but seriously I studied Avalanches at University and some of the stuff involved is pretty intense, if I had to summarise in one word.....it would be "layers", layers of incompatible snow. As Fattwins advised check it out on the net, I am sure you can find some decent stuff somewhere. Link to post Share on other sites
nulla 0 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by wendy-cake: Put simply - how and where do they happen? Anyone fill me in with a simple explanation? Cheers 1) Snow moves 2) Usually in the mountains Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Very technical, nulla Link to post Share on other sites
nulla 0 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 ...and accurate Link to post Share on other sites
IM 0 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 The most common form of avalanches are triggred by humans (skiing, bording) giving a "stress" to the weak layer of snow below. That is this weak layer acts as a ball bearing under the newly fallen snow layer of 20cm to 80 cm in depth. Recently, there was a slide in Niseko that 12/24 layer was deemed to be the slide (weak) layer. Of course the weak layer today doesn't mean it stays weak forever. The layer stability changes almost daily, if not hourly. Link to post Share on other sites
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