Avalanches - triggered from the valley
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - 01:43
in Earth & Climate
Everybody knows that skiers swishing down steep slopes can cause extensive slab avalanches. But there is a less well known phenomenon: A person skiing a gentle slope in the valley triggers a slab avalanche on a steeper slope, sometimes several hundred metres further uphill. This scenario doesn't seem to make sense - yet it claims human lives year after year...