Avalanches – How to Avoid an Avalanche – Part 2/4

In the first article of this series I provided basic information on avalanches and their behavior. In this second part I am going to talk about protecting yourself from avalanches.

As it was mentioned last time, avalanches are the single biggest danger threatening the skiers. The more time you spend in the mountains, the greater is the likelihood that you will be caught by one. As we know already, avalanches kill people every year. Instead of wondering the power of an avalanche you should think what you could do in order to minimize the risk of being caught by an avalanche.

It all starts from checking the weather for the previous days. The avalanche risk is highest during and for about 24 hours after a new falls of snow. Most of the backcountry skiers in crowded ski resorts, such as Chamonix in France, rush to the mountain as soon as the lifts are opened. Many times they enter the powder fields when the avalanche risk is highest. Fortunately many of them are professionals and they know what they are doing. Unfortunately there are also people who don’t always know what they are doing and what kinds of risks they are taking.

Ski patrols analyze the risk for an avalanche every morning

Ski patrols enter the mountains before ski lifts are open. They examine the snow condition and order ski lifts to be closed if the danger is too high. If not, ski lifts are opened, but ski patrols close the most risky slopes and they warn people with signs or flags. These people are professionals. They live and work in the mountains and they know very well when there is a high risk of an avalanche. If you see that slopes are closed or you see warning signs, respect the orders and do not enter the risky area. Notice that it is not only you who can be caught by an avalanche, but also an entire village in the valley. You might trigger a real killer avalanche.

Have you ever heard explosions in ski resorts in early mornings? Probably yes. You hear them because ski patrols go blasting the slopes in risky areas. They use explosive devices in order to release any dangerous snow slopes. Someone might feel that it is stupid to blow up fresh powder snow, but the point really is to protect people from avalanches.

Ask people’s opinion on avalanche risks

Now as you have checked the previous weather, find out what locals say about the snow conditions. Ask ski patrols, guides, and shop owners, people on street, ski-instructors or even local skiers. Just ask their opinion in entering a slope and backcountry run you are interested in. Find out if it is reasonable to enter the slope you are thinking about.

If you enter the area, you need to check the snow by hands. You can perform a number of checks:

Look at the surrounding similar slopes (same aspect, altitude and angle). If they have already “avalanched”, there is a risk that your slope will do the same
Look for signs if instability, such as sun-balling slumping, which can indicate a danger of an avalanche
Dig the snow and examine the snowpack
Do the ski pole test
If it is possible, “test ski” a similar slope

Now we know what to do to minimize the risk of being caught by an avalanche. Next it is time to examine the snow profile. Because this topic takes quite a lot of space, I decided to divide it into an own article. Tomorrow we will continue this series by focusing in examining the snow profile. The last part of this series, the fourth article, will discuss about emergency procedures if you or a fellow skier is caught by an avalanche.

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About the Author

Marko Pyhajarvi

I am an old-school alpine skier, snowboarder and telemarker, and I love writing. Therefore I founded Homeboy. I (too) enjoy powder, mountaineering and backcountry skiing as well as photographing. Nowadays, as an old fart, I mostly ski with my kids and focus on financing their hobbies.

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