WEBVTT - How Avalanches Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:12.600 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.800 Josh Clark and there's Charles Bryant and there's no ol 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.480 over there. It's like Jerry with a beard, and this 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.640 is stuff you should know. Yeah, that's a good way 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.320 to describe no Al because it's not at all accurate 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.000 except for the beard. But it's funny. It is funny. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.959 That's the point that's going. It's going. Fine, you got 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.640 a good intro for this one. Noah, Really, I was 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:39.200 going to mention the terrible avalanche on Everest. Oh. Yeah, 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.920 it took the lives of I believe fifteen Sherpa. Yeah 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.519 that was sad. Yeah, it was especially sad because we 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.600 know how Scherpall work. We've done an episode on it before, 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.800 and you know, to Live and Die on the Mountain, 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.680 it's kind of like it's well, it's become the sharp 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.800 away a little bit, but it's still a major tragedy. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:01.880 Because sure, but if you go back and listen to 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:03.640 that show or I think we even called it, what 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:08.400 like warm friend, Yeah, like they're really great and just 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.560 good souls, and it was it was super sad to 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.840 hear about that. Is that what prompted this idea? I 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.000 believe so, Yes, yes, okay, yes it was. I thought 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:20.240 it might have been. I know you know a lot 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:23.920 about snow crystal shape because of your Don't Be Dumb 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:26.120 episode recently, I thought that might have been it. Yeah, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.240 about whether or not there is such things to snowflakes 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.440 that are exactly alike. What's the answer? I think that's 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.360 a good way to start out. No, not really, Okay, 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.920 there each one is perfect and special. If you had 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.880 if you're comparing snowflakes that are formed from a very 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.240 small amount of water, then you're probably going to find 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.320 some that are identical. But as I say in that 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.160 episode of Don't Be Dumb, if you count those, you're 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.160 a jerk. So like a real snowflake, like a snowflake 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.360 like that children love and that you haven't broidered on 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.960 your sweater. No, there's no two that are alike. That's 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:07.400 pretty cool, even though something like seventies septillion snowflakes fall 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.399 to Earth in a year. Wow, that's a lot of snowflakes. Yeah, 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.440 but when you put them all together, they don't necessarily stick. Yeah, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.079 and every once in a while, something can happen, not 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:23.040 yodeling that can trigger an avalanche. Yeah, and I was 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.120 when we were reading through this. I've found that there 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.079 were a lot of differences obviously between avalanches and uh 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.960 slides that we've covered. Yeah, we did landslides. Yeah, and 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.320 I even found a few little similarities and wildfires which 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.880 I did not expect. Lay it on me. Well, we'll 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.600 get to it later, like potential ways to Well, we'll 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.000 get to it. We'll lay it on me at a 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:50.880 future time. Ok So, um avalanches, Yeah, Basically an avalanches 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.959 is uh, well, it's it's a failure of a large 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.600 or small amount of snow to stay in place any 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.000 longer friction once again, Yes, just like with landslides, Um, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.000 the the mass overcomes the force of friction that's holding 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.840 it in place and it just kind of moves downhill 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.120 all at once. The thing is that doesn't seem like 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.800 a big deal, but in North America of an avalanche 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.240 can reach something like two hundred and thirty thousand cubic 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.839 meters in size. It's about twenty football fields filled ten 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.600 feet deep with snow. How fast I've seen up to 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.160 and beyond a hundred miles an hour once they really 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.320 get going. That's a big deal. Yeah, So twenty football 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.000 fields filled ten feet deep with snow moving in over 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.240 a hundred miles an hour down a mountain. If you're 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.240 on the way, yeah, to save the day. Pretty much, 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:49.960 you're in trouble basically. So avalanches are a pretty big deal. 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.160 Even though it's just snow, and snow is beautiful and 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.720 wonderful and cold, it's like all of it moving at 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.720 once is a problem. That's right. And um, there's a 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.320 lot of different ways that an avalanche can form, but 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:08.000 really there's three. There's three factors involved. You've got snow, yeah, 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.160 you have a slope or an incline, and then you 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.840 have some sort of trigger. Yeah, and like I said, 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.520 it's not yodeling. Loud sounds just don't really have what 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.360 it takes to trigger an avalanche. That's that's in the 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.840 movies that you'll see that, Yeah, German movies. That's right. Uh, well, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.680 I guess let's back up a little bit to what 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.919 we're originally talking about, which was the shape of the 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:35.000 snow itself, because that has an impact on what's you know, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.120 when the snow hits the ground, it's gonna form, it's 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.560 called a snow pack, and how stable the snow pack 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:45.240 is is depends on the snow that is that makes 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.240 up the snowpack, and like how it bonds together depends 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.440 on the actual shape of those little crystals. H if 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.440 you have a six pointed crystal, um, it's gonna be 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.520 steadier or more stable than like needle shaped crystals right 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.560 packed together better. Yeah. Then, so there's different factors that 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.039 contribute to what kind of snow falls, what kind of 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.880 snow accumulates, and then snow undergoes um a metamorphosis once 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.520 it becomes part of the snowpack, depending on conditions that's right. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.719 For example, the temperature gra gradient has a big effect 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.839 on how snow within a snowpack, which is just these 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.160 blankets and blankets of snow that build up over the 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:27.840 course of a season. Um, if there's say a higher 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.279 temperature gradient, so at the surface it's very very cold, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.279 but below towards the ground, it's actually warmer because of 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.479 the heat, the radiant heat coming out of the earth. 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.760 The larger the temperature gradient, the larger the difference in 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:48.279 the amount of water vapor. So warmer air or warmer 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.480 snow holds more water vapor. And water vapor likes homeostasis 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.520 just like everything else, so it moves from one end 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.720 to another, and that actually helps trigger metamorphosis of snowflake 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:04.560 shapes within the snow pack by um taking what's already rounded, 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.800 and that's what you want. That's a stable snowpack. Yeah, 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.200 which I thought would be more unstable, but it packs 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.000 together easier, right, Rounded snowflakes packed together easier. And when 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.000 water vapor moves from one place to another, uh, it 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.560 takes rounded snowflakes and actually makes them faceted, which are 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.799 more angled, yes, like flat surfaces basically, and those don't 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.040 lock together as well. So that's one form of instability. 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.040 Is when you have a temperature gradient. Yes, and if 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.520 you have a lot of those faceted flakes, it's going 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:38.320 to be called a depth whore h O a R. 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.160 And a horror is uh is the light like you 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.560 can even kind of see them on like sunny days, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:49.320 this sort of shiny crystally surface um layer on top 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.839 that's like not really bonded exactly. It's frost is another 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.560 word for it, like horror. Like avalanche, we should name 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.640 this avalanches the disaster with the most jargon because there's 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.480 a lot of jargon involved in avalanches. There is. We've 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.320 already skipped over some of it. Like rhyme, Well, yeah, 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.120 rhyme is when um, yeah, it's basically have you ever 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.000 seen like a a ship going through the Arctic and 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.400 it has like globules of ice, or like a tree 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.800 collecting ice. That's rhyme where it's just basically a bunch 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.200 of water turns into ice really quick and accumulates quickly. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.600 That's rhyme. Horrors frost rhyme is like globules of ice. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.920 What about a grapple? Uh, that is when you have 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.880 deposits of rhyme that build up and form pellets of snow. Yeah, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.880 but they're not stable even though they're pellets, like yeah, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:42.520 which kind of flies in the face because I thought 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.120 round was more stable. I think they're larger though, Yeah, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.800 I think they're like spherical, whereas round is like flat 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.480 and rounded edges. So pellets are like yeah those things. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.720 You know, you get a handful of those yellow pellets, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.040 roll them around in your palms like so, and you're 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.200 gonna see like it, there's no friction there. It overcomes friction. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.400 That's true. Uh, if you have you can also get 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.680 rounding if if it's a low temperature gradient and you 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.280 get a lot of um subfreezing going on, and it's 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.200 gonna cause the rounding, which is actually good. That's gonna 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.440 make it more stable. Like we were talking about UM. 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:25.400 So you've got temperature gradient, you've got rounding from UM 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.160 a low temperature gradiment. You have different types of snow 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:32.160 that accumulate. If fascinating is can that be a verb? 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.439 I just made it one. Yeah, fascinating, Yeah, fascinating is 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.920 Basically it's another type of metamorphosis where snowflake undergoes a 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.640 change in the snowpack after it's already fallen. It's just 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.760 laying there like you think when snowfalls it's it's felt, 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.360 but now it's going through some changes. Basically, a puberty 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.880 of snow is what happens in the snowpack. And when 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:57.440 fascinating happens, it's the opposite of rounding. Those edges become 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.680 um more pronounced, more angular and um. A snowflake can 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.680 turn into what's called depth or h O A R 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.000 again uh, and it's pretty cool. Did you see the 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.720 picture of depth hor It's the coolest looking snowflake you 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.160 can find that it's pretty cool, Like it looks carved 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.000 out like, UM, it looks three D printed, basically, doesn't 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.920 it do? UM a piece of machinery or something. But 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:21.960 from the looks of it, it looks like it would 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.600 just totally lock in with any other snowflake. But for 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.640 some reason that's not the case. So when you get 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:32.839 depth Horor's is a very faceted snow packed snowflake. UM, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.440 it's not going to lead to a stable snowpack. None 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:40.760 of these are basically everything except rounding UM leads to 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.160 an unstable snow pack. That's right, And that's one of 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.080 the triggers or one of the factors involved in an avalanche. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.800 That's right. What you have is if you have a 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.720 failure level layer, and that's the weak layer inside the snowpack. 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.080 It's called the failure layer because it fails you and 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.800 causes the av inch. It fills everybody, but it can 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.320 be caused by a lot of things. Uh, the things 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:11.319 we're just mentioning and uh, depending on some other factors. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.400 Is how it's gonna deal with that failure level. UM, 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.040 it can slough off the snow, and I think most 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.880 people have seen that is when you see like the 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.240 inverted V shape loose powdery snow coming down a mountain 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.080 that is slough and that is not super dangerous. It 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.120 usually doesn't do a lot of damage. Um, So that's 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.240 not like the worst case scenario now, and slough is 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:38.560 the result of Typically the failure layer is high up 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.439 in the snow pack, so it's just some surface snow 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.120 that's going to move as part of the avalanche. Yeah. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.200 If it's deeper, then you're gonna get the the bad 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.920 boy of the avalanche scene, which is the slab avalanche. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.040 And that's when the failure layer is deep down and 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:58.800 it's gonna bring obviously a lot more compact big chunks 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.040 sliding down over that that bed layer, or it could 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.400 be a huge chunk, a single chunk. Um reminiscent of 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.440 when uh, you have a lot of snow on your 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.000 windshield and the sun comes out and heats it and 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.320 the glass becomes warmer, so the bottom of it loses 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.040 friction and stability and slides down all at once. That's right. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.560 That's basically a mini slab avalanche happening on your car. Yeah. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.280 And if if it's wet um your slab, it's gonna 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.920 be slower, which sounds good. Um, but it's gonna hit 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.280 with more force. It has more water to it has 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:37.520 more mass and volume, more weight babe. Yeah. Um, So 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:41.440 let's talk about that slope. If they generally happen between 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:47.880 five and sixty and most common between and forty five degrees, uh, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.400 is when you're gonna get an avalanche. If it's more 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.360 than that steeper than that, then it's just gonna be 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.600 sloughing constantly and probably not be a danger. And if 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.319 it's less than that, then it's not enough of the 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.200 slope to cause any problems. Yeah, it's not really going 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.360 to move very much, if at all. It's just called 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.480 party time on the mountain. There's also other factors, um 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.839 that contribute to whether an area's avalanche prone or not. 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.920 To like, Um, if it's on the um sunny side 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.280 of the mountain where it gets a lot of morning sun, uh, 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.320 it will actually warm up and and basically settle. The 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:28.360 ice pack settles and becomes more stable than on the 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:31.800 shadier side of the mountain. Same with leeward and windward. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.280 Both of these I thought was the opposite of how 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.600 it should be. I had that same problem too, because 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:41.079 they say specifically, the Freese thaw cycle can can create 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.520 like a layer of ice in the snowpack that will 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.520 be a failure layer eventually. So if it's in the 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.320 sun every day, I mean it's slightly melting a little bit, right, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.720 then you know, why wouldn't that also be the case. 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:55.599 I didn't get to the bottom of that one. I 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.520 have no idea, but that's what I kept coming across, 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.679 and source after source the same thing with Like you said, leeward, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.040 it means it's it's on the opposite side of the wind, 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.440 and I would think that being on the windy side 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.920 would be more dangerous. Well, no, because that causes slough 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.800 the wind like blood. Okay, I guess that makes sense. 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.680 That one makes sense. It's the sunny side that's just confusing. Yeah, 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.040 I still say a strongest of wind could cause a slab. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.000 I'm gonna I'm gonna fly in the faces of the experts. 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.920 And then um they also rate and not right like 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.320 this is a five star avalanche, the best I've seen 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.760 all season. They have um a rating scale from R 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.360 one D one to R five D five And yes, nerds, 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.680 there is an R two D two avalanche. I guess 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:45.959 you mean me, because that was gonna be my first question. 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.600 I sent you the chart, okay, but I'm still gonna ask. 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.920 So the R is the size of the avalanche relative 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.280 to the path that takes into account it's width, its length, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.480 its depth, the size of the avl lanch our. One 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.640 is laughable. Our five is the whole side of the 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:07.920 mountain just came down. What's an R two D two. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.880 It's a little above laughable. It's more like a woe. 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.680 It's kind of like you would imagine R two D 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.000 two is an avalanche, you know, all right? Uh? And 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.840 then our five D five the D stands for destructive force, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.680 and that like in an R five D five, the 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.880 D of that avalanche can like gouge the earth. It's 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:35.240 it's moving with such power and intensity, and they can 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.640 go up to I think one point nine miles um, 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:43.960 traveling almost two miles at a at a solid with 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:50.480 a solid chunk. Pretty scary stuff. Yeah, it's scary stuff. 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.920 And before we get to even more stuff, let's take 0:14:54.240 --> 0:15:06.720 an message break. All right, Okay, so I believe we're 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.160 talking scary things, and what can be scarier than avalanche 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:16.560 triggered by a yodeler we've already said that's not the case. Yeah, 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.280 it's three times. Um. Usually, well, sometimes it can be 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.560 Usually it's people, but sometimes it can be a natural thing, 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.440 like if a tree falls, or if the weather really 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:31.640 changes quickly. Um, what else, Um, the big chunk of 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.840 ice falling off a tree could trigger it. Yeah, a 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.600 cornice Um, basically, a an ice pack can build up 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.960 over a cliffs edge and just kind of hang there, 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.760 and then eventually that the it'll collapse under its own 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.200 weight and it can fall onto a ridge line below. 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.200 That can definitely trigger trigger an avalanche. But in most 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.320 cases it's people. Yeah. And apparently in most fatal avalanches, 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.080 the person who dies in the avalanche triggered it in 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:04.240 most cases. Oh yeah, karmic nature. I guess it seems 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.000 a little a little harsh, Yeah, a little imbalanced. Yeah, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:12.040 I agree. Uh. All right, So let's say you have 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.840 an avalanche happening. There are gonna be three parts to 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.160 this avalanche. You've got your starting zone, which is above 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.520 the tree line, and that's where the slab actually, that's 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.200 the top part where it breaks free. It's also known 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.920 as a crown. A crown that makes sense. Then you 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.840 have your track and that's basically just the path that 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.840 it takes. Uh. You're gonna if you go to like 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.200 these mountains in the summertime, you might see that track 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.520 uh as a big open area of green grass between trees. Yeah, 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.640 because the avalanches wipe the trees off of that slope. 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:51.040 So like if you're if you're unclear on whether avalanches 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.400 are powerful, Yes, they take out trees on their way 0:16:54.400 --> 0:17:00.440 down and houses and ski condos and yeah, skiers, which 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.240 is another reason why they're so dangerous for someone caught 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.280 in the avalanche because it's not only the snow that 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.160 may or may not bury you, you're also getting pummeled 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.760 across against stuff on your way down because of the 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.879 force of the avalanche bouring you along, like being whacked 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.360 into a tree or something. Yeah. Uh. And then you've 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.119 got your run out is the third segment, and that 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.720 is where it comes to a sliding slow stop and 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:28.879 that is bad news because it's it's they liken it 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.600 to concrete in this article and it just sets up 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.920 super hard and if you're underneath it, h you've got 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.000 you know, fifteen minutes or so to get yourself out 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:43.000 of there, or it's bye bye to life. Like the 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:47.479 clock is ticking. Yeah, apparently most people say that you 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.560 can survive buried in an avalanche for about eighteen minutes. 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.000 That's tops. And the best way to survive an avalanche 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.920 is to never start one. And there's techniques that um well, 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.920 basically government local governments that um where mountains and ski 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.080 slips are situated, and then ski resorts will higher ski 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.399 patrols basically go out and test. And there's actually people 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:16.920 who are called avalanche avalanche forecasters and they I guess, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:21.080 study the snowfall, the the atmospheric conditions, like if there's 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.919 been a freeze thaw cycle, and they can predict roughly 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:28.400 like when or where an avalanche may happen, and they say, 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.040 point the howitzerer that way, and they'll make sure people 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.480 are off of the slope, and they shoot artillery at 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.359 slopes that try to trigger avalanches. That's one way to 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.359 do it. And that's why that's where it reminded me 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:45.480 of wildfires, um doing controlled burns and stuff like that, like, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.560 oh yeah, they'll actually set off an avalanche to keep 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.400 an avalanche from happening. But that's really don't wait. Well, 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:57.880 there's also ski checking, which seems kind of but that's 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.040 almost like, um yeah, uh, I guess it is a 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.560 little bit. It's it's a mind bogglingly dangerous sounding. Yeah, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.240 it's a job where you on purpose get on your 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:13.440 skis and ski along the fracture line, um, to see 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.639 what happens, to try to trigger trying to trigger it, 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.440 and then they're gonna quickly try and outrun it. Yes, 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.080 and they're hopefully skiing at the fracture line at the 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.720 top of it, like around the crown, rather than inside 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.800 the avalanche zone. You don't want to be there, so 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.000 it would it would fall out below them rather than 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.840 carry them down. And if you're ski checking, you're you're 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.320 never ski checking alone. You're always part of a team 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.240 and everybody's watching you, and you have a beacon on 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.040 and all the other stuff that you're supposed to have. 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.840 But it's still one of the more dangerous things I 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.639 think you can do in snow. Yeah. I hope we 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:54.480 have a listener that does this because I'd love to 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.760 know more about it. Ski checking, Yeah, yeah, I'd like 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:58.840 to hear that too. Some of the other things they 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:03.240 can do to prevent uh or interrupt an avalanche that 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.639 happens is to put the like physical objects in place 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.800 to prevent it, like nets and anchors and fences and 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.280 stuff like that, and that if an avalanche starts, at 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.800 least they can divert it or stop it quicker, or 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.160 maybe prevent it from happening to begin with. Sometimes they'll 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.160 hire local teens to just stand there and link arms, 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:28.440 stand in the Yeah, the red rover approach. It depends 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:35.240 on where you live. Estonia is huge on that level prevention. Uh, 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.120 they can happen anytime. They're most common in the winter obviously, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.920 but they can happen in any month. And um, usually 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.600 in the first like twenty four hours after a big snowfall, 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.280 it's going to be a little more likely. I guess 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:51.480 things haven't settled in quite yet. Yes, And um, heavily 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:57.040 logged areas, areas that have been denuded of trees because 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:01.760 trees all taken together can kind of serve as anchors 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:05.359 for a snowpack. So they're trying to reforest areas is 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:07.919 a big, a big thing now And I wonder I 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.280 didn't find this out, But I wonder also if trees 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.240 represent a kind of a crack in a large snow 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.440 pack too, In that like if there was a piece 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.919 that was coming off, it would take less with it 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.359 because it would eventually reach a tree. In that tree 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:29.200 would represent a break in that connectiveness in the larger snowpack. 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.440 I'm going to say yes, I would say yes to 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.840 that just makes sense. Yeah, But the problem is people 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:38.640 like to do things like what are called back country 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.160 sports in places where there aren't trees. Yeah. I mean, 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:49.080 the majority of avalanche victims are youngish dudes who, let's 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.240 be honest, they're out there with their snowboard. They're getting 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.200 dropped in by a helicopter where there's plenty of Dowdets. 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.560 Who's who snowboard too? Yeah, that's true. But they did 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:01.000 say males is the most one, so I think that's 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:05.919 a fact. Oh yeah, okay, yeah, Um they're bros, you know, 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:11.359 they're ski bros. Um Man, I can't believe. I guess 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:13.320 I do believe that. But the person who causes the 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.280 avalanche is the person who most likely dies. It's just yeah. 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:18.840 And the reason why is because when you're when you 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:23.920 accidentally trigger trigger this avalanche, it doesn't you're not you're 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.320 on a on a line, a fault line basically that 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.200 you're triggering. But It doesn't necessarily mean that everything's gonna 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.480 happen below you. You could be skiing right through this 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.640 slab and the stuff above you is gonna come down too, 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:41.359 So like this whole slabs is gonna come down with 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:43.240 you in the middle of it. Which, so you're the 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:45.080 one who triggered it. You're the one who got buried 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.480 alive too. All right, Well, we don't want that to 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.240 happen to anybody, So, uh, how can we? I guess 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:54.359 we should talk about how to do your diligence as 0:22:54.400 --> 0:23:00.400 a back country bro. Yeah, well you should do so basically, Um, 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:02.920 you before you go out, you want to check with 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:09.800 any local UM message boards or websites that have avalanche warnings, 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:13.919 the bro hotline, right yeah, you want to call be 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:16.960 like is there going to be right? Um? And there's 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.320 like people who are paid to monitor this kind of 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:21.639 thing and alert the public. So step one is to 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.880 know whether there's a high likelihood of an avalanche happening 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:31.560 where you are. Um. You also want to have taken 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:35.320 a course in surviving avalanches. If you're doing this hardcore 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:38.679 back country stuff, then hopefully you've done that beforehand. And 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:42.359 there's a lot to learn to like this isn't we're 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:44.840 just kind of scratching the surface here. Like there is 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:48.840 a lot too to know to understand avalanches, to be 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:53.680 able to forecast them, and to test like doing field tests. Um, 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.600 so you want to really know what you're doing before 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:59.840 you go out. You always want to go with somebody else. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:02.760