avalanches

Avalanches kill an average of 200 people each year. The victims of avalanche incidents are mostly the snow-mobilers, snow-boarders and skiers. Avalanches are snowballs which roll down the mountainside and shatter like a glass. Avalanches mostly occur after a heavy snowfall. When the snow piles up quickly, it weakens the layer beneath the snow and causes a fracture. This loosens the snow on the top layer causing it to move down the mountain slope at a great speed. A victim caught in an avalanche seldom escapes. The factors that foster an avalanche include temperature, storminess, wind and also the steepness of the slope.Are Avalanches Fatal?

Avalanches can sometimes be fatal. The cold snow can cause hypothermia within hours and you could be dead. The snow can also cause suffocation. Many people don't know how dangerous avalanches can be and usually ignore danger hazards. In the winter season in 2002-03 there was a total of 58 avalanches in North America, 22 people died of avalanches while snowmobiling, 25 died of avalanches while skiing. Of the 58 avalanches, 28 of them were Canadian.

How Can an Avalanche Occur?

Wherever there is snow lying on the ground on an angle an avalanche can occur. An avalanche is snow moving down a slope, but at a very powerful speed. Any snow slide big enough to pull a person down is very dangerous.

Weather is the most important to determine whether avalanches are ever going to happen at that time. It is really important to still watch out for a possibility of an avalanche.  If people were never on mountains, we wouldn't have to worry about avalanches.

Once an avalanche is moving, it will become very powerful, capable of taking down buildings very easily. As an avalanche moves down a hill, it becomes more and more dangerous. When an avalanche eventually stops, the snow hardens up like concrete. This makes rescues very hard, and chances to live become less likely.  Avalanches are really hard to predict most of the time. Changing the weather will affect the strength of the avalanche.