Backcountry Avalanche Safety
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First published in 1983, the fifth edition of this classic avalanche text has been reorganized and re-written to incorporate the most up-to-date information available for winter backcountry enthusiasts.
It is divided into 9 chapters as follows:
Mountain Weather: Describes how changes in weather: sun, wind, snow, rain and temperature, result in changes in the snowpack that lead to avalanche hazard.
Snow: Explains how the physical properties of water—frozen, liquid and vapour—result in the formation of snow in the atmosphere, how they influence snow on the ground, and their effect on critical layers within the snowpack.
Snow Avalanches: Discusses the two types of snow avalanches; loose-snow and slab avalanches: how they form, what triggers them, how big they might be and the slope angles at which they commonly release. Lots of pictures.
Avalanche Terrain: Defines users of avalanche terrain and describes terrain features that are significant for winter backcountry enthusiasts. Enlarges on the effect of slope angle, slope aspect and elevation.
Trip Planning: Enlarges on the Avalnche Danger Scale and interpreting Avalanche Forecasts. Describes the Avaluator™ trip planning tool and offers advice on all aspects of trip planning.
Avalanche Gear: Discusses avalanche-specific gear: beacons, shovels, probes, Avalung, airbags, helmets, snow saw, inclinometer, climbing rope, bivy bags, SPOT and RECCO
Travel in Avalanche Terrain: This chapter covers the basics of travelling in backcountry avalanche terrain. It is intended for Backcountry Tourers, Snowshoers,and other winter backcountry enthusiasts such as Ice Climbers and Scramblers who traverse through avalanche terrain to get to their climbs and are generally trying to avoid steep slopes. Along with the next two chapters it is the meat of the book.
Skiing and Boarding Steep Slopes: The needs of Skiers and Boarders who deliberately seeks to make turns, preferably in deep powder, on slopes in excess of 30° are addressed. This section provides information and tools beyond those needed for backcountry travel. It does not replace the previous chapter. You still have to travel through avalanche terrain and establish a safe uptrack, before you can enjoy a downhill run.
Companion Rescue: Surviving an avalanche in the backcountry depends upon the actions of the unburied survivors. This chapter defines procedures that will give your buried companion the best chance of survival.
The printed version is available from outdoor stores and bookstores.
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Tony,
I’ve been reading the latest edition of Backcountry Avalanche Safety and have noticed that compared to my 2nd edition, you no longer include the shovel shear test. Is this test no longer recommended? Why?
The shovel shear test has been out of favor for quite a few years. There have been more reliable tests developed that can be better controlled and the results easier to interpret by the backcountry user. For instance, a lot of people would use the shovel as a lever when doing the shovel shear test, also there was a lot of variation in how far down the shovel was placed before pulling. The amount of force used before the block failed was difficult to judge. In summary the repeatability was not good.
It is now recognized that the quality of the failure is important. The “pops” and “drops”. A quick, clean failure adds greater certainty to the test. Most people now use the Compression (Tap) test to find weak layers in the snowpack.
A relatively new test, the Extended Column Test is showing a lot of promise and may well become the test of choice for backcountry skiers. It indicates the likelihood of the slab failure propagating across a significant portion of the snowpack. It is easy to interpret as the slab either propagates cleanly or it there is no propagation even if the block fails.
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