News & Updates:

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 149

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_WideSkyscraper_Left_160x600.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 149

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_WideSkyscraper_Left_160x600.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 149

Like the website?
Recommend Us To a Friend

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 167

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button1_120x90.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 167

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button1_120x90.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 167

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 168

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button2_120x90.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 168

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button2_120x90.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 168

Effect of Slope and Ground Surface

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 177

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Central1_336x280.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 177

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Central1_336x280.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 177

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 184

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_WideSkyscraper_Right_160x600.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 184

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_WideSkyscraper_Right_160x600.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 184

Articles In This Section:

· Snow Formation and Avalanches

· Snow Texture - part 1

· Snow Texture - part 2

· Snow Texture - part 3

· Stratification of Snow Deposits

· Effect of Slope and Ground Surface

· Avalanche Types - part 1

· Avalanche Types - part 2

· Avalanche Types - part 3

· Detection of Snow Condition

· Summary of Avalanche Causes

· Precautions in Avalanche Territory - part 1

· Precautions in Avalanche Territory - part 2

· Conduct During an Avalanche

· Avalanche Rescue Work

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 213

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button3_120x90.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 213

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button3_120x90.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 213

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 214

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button4_120x90.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 214

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Button4_120x90.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 214

Steepness of slope.—Generally speaking, the steeper the slope, the greater the danger of avalanche. Avalanches are not likely to occur on slopes less than 22°, but can occur on lesser slopes if other conditions are unusually favorable. Much steeper slopes than this are entirely safe if snow texture and snow bondage are good.

Ground surface.—Inequalities in the ground surface, such as rocks, mounds, or terraces, tend to give a firm anchorage to the lowest snow layer, and whenever numerous firmly placed rocks are protruding above the snow, the avalanche danger will be negligible. Rounded, downward-sloping ledges give little support to snow, but angular, upward-tilted ledges give considerable support. Grass usually forms a poor bond with the lowest snow layer since the grass bends downhill and is matted into a slippery surface. This is sometimes also true of the more flexible types of brush, but shrubs with fairly rigid stems give a good bondage. Trees growing in a close wood serve both as a good bondage and as an indication that avalanches have not recently swept through the region. Avalanches can fall, however, from a sparsely wooded slope, and even dense woods are sometimes swept out by avalanches starting above the wood. Water-saturated soil is obviously a slippery surface.

It should be borne in mind that the ground surface and vegetation affect only the snow layers into which they protrude. After the ground and vegetation is completely covered and a smooth snow slope is formed, each succeeding snow layer must be bonded to lower layers in order to obtain any support from the original surface.

Contour.—The general contour of the mountainside also affects the bondage of the snow. On a concave slope, the snow in the lower, flatter portion of the slope tends to support the snow higher up, whereas on a convex slope the steepest portion is at the bottom, and it consequently provides less support for the snow on the flatter portion at the top.

The effect of contour is relatively important if the principal cause of an avalanche is a lack of bondage between the sliding layer and the next lower layer, which may be the ground. The snow then slides, to a certain extent as a blanket. The effect of contour is less important when the danger of avalanche is due to lack of internal cohesion within a snow layer so that the snow flows downhill. A wind slab on a convex slope is more likely to be under some initial internal tension than a wind slab on a concave slope. A slab on a convex slope, therefore, should tend to fracture more readily.

Most avalanches fall in chutes or gullies (or couloirs); indeed, in high mountains, these chutes owe their existence primarily to erosion by frequent avalanches. These avalanches are mostly of the flowing type, however, and are frequently started by snow falling off the headwalls. Obviously, then, when a skier crosses an avalanche chute, it is not enough that he merely know the character of the snow in the chute. The imminent danger is in the slopes high above, the structure of which is usually entirely different from slopes in the chute.

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 239

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Central2_336x280.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 239

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/Debt_Central2_336x280.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 239

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 246

Warning: include(http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/contextual/leaderboard_728x90.html) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 246

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.unrealwebmastery.com/cj/contextual/leaderboard_728x90.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/skimount/public_html/jet_skiing_vermont_skiing.htm on line 246