Avalanche book information needed
 

Hi (expert) reader(s)

I want to know more about the fundamentals of avalanches,
like stability, the underground influence, the composition of the snowpack
etc.
Well the usual stuff a backcountry boarder need to know and should know.

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

Keep on riding,
Andre

Note: I fully understand that it is not a replacement for a course but i
want to be prepared
before following a course.

A. Kleibeuker wrote:

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

Recommended reading list at the Scottish Avalanche Information Service
site (see http://www.sais.gov.uk) is:

* A Chance in a Million? - Barton and Wright.
* Mountaincraft and Leadership - Langmuir.
* International Mountain Rescue Handbook - MacInnes.
* Avalanche Safety for Climbers and Skiers - Daffern.
* The Avalanche Handbook - McClung and Schaerer
* Snow Sense - Fredston and Fesler

Though the Langmuir book is very good note it's a general mountain
leadership volume with little specific to skiing and with avalanches
only a small portion. It's also quite skewed to a UK perspective, so
good though it is at what it sets out to do, probably not one to bother
with here.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
A. Kleibeuker wrote:

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

Recommended reading list at the Scottish Avalanche Information Service
site (see http://www.sais.gov.uk) is:

* A Chance in a Million? - Barton and Wright.
* Mountaincraft and Leadership - Langmuir.
* International Mountain Rescue Handbook - MacInnes.
* Avalanche Safety for Climbers and Skiers - Daffern.
* The Avalanche Handbook - McClung and Schaerer
* Snow Sense - Fredston and Fesler

Though the Langmuir book is very good note it's a general mountain
leadership volume with little specific to skiing and with avalanches
only a small portion. It's also quite skewed to a UK perspective, so
good though it is at what it sets out to do, probably not one to bother
with here.


_ If you want to know all the gory details, I think "The
Avalanche Handbook" is the way to go. For general mountain
travel issues, "Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills" is a
great book to have.

_ However, I think at best you can only learn to identify
risks, which is a good thing. Actually quantifing them and
making no/go decisions is something that can only come with
experience and even the most experienced people sometimes
get it drastically wrong.

_ Booker C. Bense



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On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 12:41:50 +0100, " ing. A. Kleibeuker"
wrote:

Hi (expert) reader(s)

I want to know more about the fundamentals of avalanches,
like stability, the underground influence, the composition of the snowpack
etc.
Well the usual stuff a backcountry boarder need to know and should know.

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

PowderGuide

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...333723-2658923

I don' know, if a english version available is.

For a quik info can you go to SLF Davos

http://www.slf.ch/welcome-en.html

Johannes

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In article ,
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Dec.11.03@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote:

In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
A. Kleibeuker wrote:

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?


_ Oh, by the way there are at least two good web sites worth
checking out.

http://www.csac.org/

http://www.avalanche.org/

_ I think the incident database at www.csac.org is particularly
useful and sobering. It's a good learning excercise to read
the incident reports along with the associated forecast.

_ Booker C. Bense


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_ I think the incident database at www.csac.org is particularly
useful and sobering. It's a good learning excercise to read
the incident reports along with the associated forecast.

I like it because they usually have info on recent events.


For good (but old) writeups of avalanches, I suggest
Snowy Torrents. It's the avalanche version of ANAM.

Unfortunately it doesn't come out regularly. The latest one is
already quite old. It was published in 1996, but covers
1980-86. It's the first/only one with good data on beepers
and shovels. (There are several older issues.)

Google says it's available many places.
Here is the source:
http://www.dnr.state.co.us/cdnr_news...212155939.html

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These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

If extensive is what you're looking for I'd go with "Staying Alive in
Avalanche Terrain" by Bruce Tremper.
Very detailed and very well written. Does a great job with the
technical snow science stuff as well as with the human factor/decision
making stuff.

-russ

I recommend:

Backcountry Avalanche Awareness
Bruce Jamieson
(Can be obtained from the Cdn Avalanche Association)
&/or
Title = Snow Sense
Subtitle = A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard
Authors = Jill Fredston & Doug Fesler


" ing. A. Kleibeuker" wrote in
message ...
Hi (expert) reader(s)

I want to know more about the fundamentals of avalanches,
like stability, the underground influence, the composition of the snowpack
etc.
Well the usual stuff a backcountry boarder need to know and should know.

Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

Keep on riding,
Andre

Note: I fully understand that it is not a replacement for a course but i
want to be prepared
before following a course.

Andre wrote:
Does anybody know a good (extensive) book about avalanches?

russ wrote:
If extensive is what you're looking for I'd go with "Staying Alive in
Avalanche Terrain" by Bruce Tremper.
Very detailed and very well written. Does a great job with the
technical snow science stuff as well as with the human factor/decision
making stuff.

on a related note (Bruce T. is mentioned in the article), everyone who
will head into the backcountry should read this:

What's Wrong with Traditional Avalanche Courses?
by David Spring
http://www.adventureplus.org/avalanche.htm

very important and sobering stuff...

Tom