Different types of avalanches and snow

Today we give the floor to Didier Roche who wanted to make an extension article on the different types of snow and avalanches.

Different types of avalanches

When you're told about winter sports, winter trips to the mountains, you're surely thinking about beautiful snowy landscapes, mountain specialties, skiing...

Skiing is practiced on slopes of different colors corresponding each at different levels: green: easy, blue: medium difficulty, red: difficult and black: very difficult. Savvy skiers are at ease on marked slopes as well as on ungroomed, unworked snow.

Off-piste is of course practiced at the risk of powder enthusiasts and remains very dangerous, but it remains synonymous with freedom. Skiing or surfing in this pristine nature without safety is not without consequence. Indeed, the dangers of this practice are above all the triggering of avalanches.

Look the now avalanche transceivers online at Telemark Pyrenees

What is an avalanche? What are the different types of avalanches?

It is a slip of a large patch of snow. There are different types of avalanches. They are triggered because of the heavy weight of the snow on the summits, or because the temperature is too mild.

We will talk about 3 types of avalanches: powder, patches or wet snow.

Powder avalanches:

they occur when suddenly too much snow has fallen. The latter did not have time to settle down. This type of avalanche usually engulfs only the surface snowpack of this unstable snow. The breath of this phenomenon can reach 200km/h!

Plate avalanches:

The wind blows snow on the peaks, which form heavy and compact clusters. Cracks form, and the plates come off because of the heavy weight. The speed of evolution reaches 100km/h.

Wet snow avalanches:

They often occur in the spring during softness. The snow melts and slides into patches, being able to remove the entire snowpack under its path, as if it were tearing everything on its way, even discovering the earthy ground. This type of avalanche travels very heavily at 60km/h.

The risk of avalanches depends on the type of slope, terrain, and weather conditions.

The different snows you can encounter while skiing

It's snow! That's what you expect to find when you go on a skiing holiday. This snow, so softened, comes in different forms depending on the temperature of the moment. It can be light, sticky, heavy, smooth, icy...

Here are the different types of snow you can encounter during your skiing trip.

Snow crusted:

Following frost, rain, a kind of brittle crust forms above the snow layer.

Slush:

snow, composed of already frozen round grains, which caught the sun

Fresh snow:
Fresh snow is the snow that has just fallen
Wet snow:

Wet snow is snow that contains water

Wet or sticky snow:

Snow with a relatively high liquid water content. This snow is ideal for making igloo constructions, or snowmen. It sticks, it is also called "slush".

Powdery snow or "snow":

Light snow that has not yet been skied. This snow is light, and makes the joy of good numbers of riders.

Deep snow:

Thick layer of powdery snow.

Dry or grainy snow:

This snow does not contain water in liquid form. It is popular with piste skiers.

Snow blown or swept:

The wind blew and consolidated the snow in specific places

Trafflee snow:

This snow is the result of very large passages of skiers and surfers.

Look the pack at Telemark Pyrenees off-piste-safety-packages

Transformed or spring snow:

Snow that has frozen and thawed, then degrades throughout the day, and becomes "soup" at the end of the day.

Icy snow or concrete:

Snow that has suffered the very cold, and which becomes ice by dint of damage, or traces.

Now that you know everything about the snow, we hope you'll have some powder and freshness, we wish you a great skiing holiday.