Did you also think that avalanches are not relevant if you are only cross-country or back country skiing? How wrong we were. Luckily our general curiosity led us to take a course about avalanches, or moreover: how to avoid them. Only the story of people just sitting below a little overhang over 5meters tall being buried in snow made us realize that there is more to snow than you would think.
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| Recent 'flakskred' |
So during 2 days we may have only skied about 10km max each day, but stopped many times and talked and learned about wind, weather, snow crystals, snow layers, etc. So to us now snow is no longer something that just falls from the sky onto the earth to lie there and make a landscape white, no snow is actually constantly moving. Crystals being picked up by the wind, to be transported through the air, maybe even polished on the way, to come to rest in another place. Most likely that place is a lee side of a mountain or a gulley.
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| Once an engineer.... |
The Q&A was varied with the necessary digging every now and then. Boys wouldn't be boys if they would not have a serious go at it. So after the shovel comes the snow-saw and testing of how thick the layers were. And yes, when you get the hang of it...the lunch-break becomes the moment of opportunity to build a snow hole:-)!
At least we are fascinated and can only say that we hope that more people take these kind of courses. (At least in Norway they are widely available and offered by many organizations like DNT, Sportsnett, Norgesguidene, etc) If only to be able to help rescue others that have been caught by an avalanche (not yourself off course as you then now how to choose a safe route;-)). The more people that have the knowledge and the skills, the better the odds become for anyone caught in one.
So: there's too much to know about snow to write about it all here, but we'd be happy to share or answer any questions! Comments are also always welcome!
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| lunchbreak .... ehhh digging-time! |
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