Snow bonding in heavily trafficked BC?

[SerreChe 2]

Given what the snow looked like on the pic with the single guy crossing, if the slope had slid, it looks like it would have been deep and compact giving a new meaning to "concrete". In other words, it would have taken an excavator to dig that stuff or wait for spring... The guy would have been shredded. Surprising there are not more accidents in Japan given what can be seen out there. Sad thing is, when they get into trouble, it influences the resorts to revert to strict BC policies.

 

Talk about tempting fate. Russian roulette on skis.

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by _spud:
The best I can tell, the Swiss Institute for Snow and Av Research do actually regard a heavily tracked slope as a favourable attribute that aids stability.

HOWEVER; this is not due to a history of compaction as was postulated by halfmachine. Rather, the slight risk mitigation comes from the fact that the surface which receives a new layer is not a smooth, old snow surface.

Here is an example from today's Swiss av bulletin. It is using the Google translator, and reads a little funny:

 Quote:

In the schneedecke surface hoar frost layers in-snowed in parts or other weak layers are present. These are not to be recognized without ditch. They lead to the fact that the avalanche danger is to be estimated with difficulty. The situation is small-scale very different. In the much-traveled variant area the avalanche danger can be estimated somewhat more favorably than in the little committed route area.