Avalanches and Winter Hazards
By admin · An intermediate course on the violent side of winter: how snowpack builds the slabs that avalanche, the meteorology behind blizzards, ice storms and snow squalls, and the forecasting, gear and judgment that keep people alive in avalanche terrain.
About this course
Winter is beautiful and unforgiving. Beneath its quiet snowfields, a slab of snow can release in seconds and travel faster than a racing car, burying everything in its path, while above the mountains the same season brings blizzards, ice storms and snow squalls that close roads, snap power lines and strand travelers. This classroom explains the physics of the snowpack and the types and triggers of avalanches, the weather that builds and releases them, the other great hazards of winter, from freezing rain to the whiteout, and the tools of the trade, terrain reading, avalanche forecasts, and the beacon, probe and shovel that turn a burial into a rescue.