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...

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