Imagine, waking up, on a cold, January morning, at the dreary hour of 6 a.m. to a rush of snow with a force so great that it would break your very own home into small pieces. Citizens in a small town on the west side of Iceland experienced just this when they were hit by a 200 meter wide (about 2 U.S. football fields) avalanche, some without warning, because they were outside of the so-called Avalanche Zone.
Even with foundations built to withstand a certain amount of pressure from local avalanches, some houses were taken clean off their property. Picture the surprise of one homeowner whose house was relocated to a new setting, 65-100 feet (20-30m) away!
What kind of natural disaster, you might ask, could cause destruction this great? An avalanche by definition is merely:
\`av-a-,lanch\ n: a mass of snow or ice that slides down a mountain slope or cliff.
But to a survivor it is one of the most horrific experiences of a lifetime. Later in this article you will have the chance to virtually experience an avalanche through the words of a fictional character based on the amazing survival stories of actual people. But first, let us broaden your horizons and guide you through some background knowledge of the exciting world of the deadly white.....avalanche!
In this article we will be focusing on snow avalanches. There are two principle types of snow avalanches; Loose snow avalanches, and Slab snow avalanches.
Avalanches are the result of a combination of factors including temperature, the splitting apart of snow masses, and sudden vibrations, such as loud noises.
Loose-snow avalanches:
A Loose-snow avalanche is an avalanche that starts from a single point incorporating more and more unconsolidated snow as it fans out.
Loose-snow avalanches can trigger more devastating avalanches called slab avalanches
In comparison to slab avalanches, loose-snow are relatively harmless. However, there are still some hazards involved:
- A loose-snow avalanche has a force great enough to drag a person downslope shattering bones, and on rare occasion causing death.
- Large loose-snow avalanches can even mean danger to cars and other facilities.
As the snow moves downslope in an inverted V-shape pattern, it can cause other loosely packed snow to slide also.
This kind of avalanche can begin when the mountain
side is steeper than its angle of repose.
Slab Avalanches:
This kind of avalanche is the more exciting and dangerous of the 2 types, so we thought we'd explain it in more detail. The reasons that slab avalanches are far more hazardous than loose-snow avalanches are their large mass, large area, fast speed of travel, and unpredictable nature. This type of avalanche occurs when a slab of snow breaks loose from the slope, and travels downhill under the forces of gravity. If you were to look at where the avalanche began, you would see a definite line where the active snow broke away from the stable snow. Slab avalanches are often caused by the weight of the victims themselves. Starting in large blocks and chunks, slab avalanches usually end in disintegrated masses of heavy, compact snow. Slab avalanches are the cause of almost all serious avalanche-related accidents.
Well, now you know as much as we do! Consider yourself an expert! We'd like to make this topic come to life for you. Let us introduce you to someone. As we told you before, she is a fictional character with the knowledge of real survivors. Her name is Rowanda Heath. She's a 32-year old scientist who was in the mountains of a remote part of Montana with a whole team of scientists researching a bug that feeds on snow. Intent on the trail of one of these wonder bugs, Rowanda absentmindedly wandered from the group. Arriving at the wonder hole, where the only colony of these bugs lived, she yelled excitedly for the rest of the team to check it out. That was when she experienced the deadly white....
Q. Well Rowanda is this an accurate introduction to your tale?
A. Yes.
Q. What happened next?
A. Well, the sound of my voice triggered a massive slab avalanche. It's tough to imagine that my voice alone could be responsible for such a disaster. In a matter of seconds I was buried in snow, with nothing but white all around me. Before leaving on this project we were all given a booklet on avalanche survival. I tried to remain calm although I must say it was difficult. The one thing I remembered from the booklet was to try to make air space. I knew I only had a half an hour to be rescued.
Q. How did the rest of your group know where you were?
A. The team had heard the direction that my voice was coming from and immediately began to search for me. They knew there was no time to get professional help, they split up and started to dig for me. Another hint from the booklet came back to me. I had to try to get as close to the surface of the snow as possible. That is the last thought I had.
Q. What happened?
A. I blacked out, presumably from hypothermia.
Q. When did you regain consciousness?
A. I woke up on the way to a nearby hospital. The others informed me that I had been out for 45 minutes following my rescue. I could not believe that I was under the snow for nearly 25 minutes.
Q. Did you have any injuries?
A. As I mentioned before, I was hypothermic, I had a couple of minor fractures in my hands and legs, and was in a state of shock. I was very lucky not only to be alive, but to have recovered fully, with so few injuries.
Rowanda, thank you for being with us, and we wish you much safer expeditions in the future!
And to all of you who are reading this article we'd like to leave you with our very own guide to surviving avalanches as well as a few questions for you to communicate with us about our article.
If you'd like to find current avalanche warnings, click here!
Gopher://weather.colorado.edu:861/00/colorado%20Avalanche%20warnings
If you liked our article and would like to find out more about avalanches try one of these great sites!
Avalanche (http://www.infosphere.com/clients/aim/Forest/regions/2/whiteriver/edu/
avalanche/)
Cyberspace snow and avalanche center
(http://www.csac.org/)
For more articles about actual avalanches, click here!
(http://www.csac.org/Incidents/)
And now, for our very own, personal guide to avalanche survival!
1. Get rid of extra equipment and/or your vehicle!
2. In order to stay on top of the snow, make swimming motions and try to get to the side of the avalanche!
3. If possible, grab onto trees!
4. Try to make air space in the snow so you can breathe!
5. And, above all, as hard as it may be, try to remain calm!
If you are with someone who is caught in an avalanche:
1. Have an escape route and beware of additional falling snow!
2. Try and clearly remember where you last saw the victim!
3. Make a search all around the area where the person was last seen!
4. If the victim is not on the surface of the snow, poke around with a ski, pole, stick, or anything else that might be useful!
5. Remember, YOU are the victim's best chance to survive! Don't leave the person alone unless help is very nearby!
6. When and if the victim is found make sure to treat
for suffocation, shock, cardiac arrest, hypothermia, bleeding,
and broken bones.
What Do You Think?
1. Would you risk your life to help someone caught in an avalanche? Why or why not?
2. Do the risks involved in skiing avalanche prone mountain ranges outweigh the potential fun?
3. Would you have considered buying a house in an avalanche zone before reading this article? Would you buy one now? Why or why not?
4. When Rowanda was digging in the snow, to try to reach the surface, how did she know which direction was up?
Have any additional questions for Rowanda, our avalanche
survivor? If so, e-mail them to us at (we need that address)
HYPOTHERMIA - A condition of abnormally low body temperature.
MASS - The amount, or quantity of matter in an object.
Bibliography
"Avalanche." Encarta CD-ROM Encyclopedia.
1994 ed.
"Avalanche," World Book Encyclopedia
(1990).
This source was an article accesssed through a link, we don't have complete information on it.
Thorbergsson, Jonas. "Avalanche is Disaster
for NW Iceland."
The rest of our information was accessed from pages put out by the White River National Forest and the Cyberspace Snow and Avalanche Center. We did not know how to cite these sources.