Note.—In our experience by far the commonest form of winter avalanche occurs when a ski-runner crosses (or some other influence disturbs) a long steep slope of freshly-fallen snow. The weight of the runner is the last straw which causes the slenderly coherent mass to snap. It does so with a curious report, something like the cracking of thick ice on a frozen lake. Below the dividing line, which may be half a mile long, the snow slides off the hill-side much as it slides off the roof of a house, forming itself into thick slabs like paving stones which accumulate one on top of the other, and which ultimately overwhelm the runner. The snow usually breaks only a short distance above the runner, and consequently, in the event of an accident, search should first be made in that part of the mass which is highest up the hill.
Freshly-fallen snow is accordingly quite the most serious danger of ski-running, and, inasmuch as it usually affords but poor going, it is seldom worth while venturing far on very steep ground after a recent fall. After a few days of fine weather, however, the snow settles down, the avalanches run off, and what remains becomes firmer and more crystalline in structure. Under the pressure of its own weight, and owing to the peculiar property of regelation which solid water possesses, the new fall attaches itself to the old crusts, and the conditions become, comparatively speaking, safe.
It is a common saying amongst the Swiss that it is unsafe to venture above the tree-line, as long as any snow is left clinging to the trees on the sunny side of the valleys. This rough test we have found to be a very useful one.—Ed.
Broad Peak, Kashmir.
Ski in foreground at a height of 20,000 feet.
Photo by Dr. Guillarmod.