A guide on backcountry safety for snowboarders: riding techniques for reducing risks, methods for recognizing avalanche hazards, procedures for conducting field tests for recognizing unstable snow, methods for selecting low-risk routes, and telephone numbers for avalanche conditions in the United States and Canada.
The more you know about snow stability, the better your travel and rescue skills. And the sharper your decision making, the better you’ll be able to avoid avalanche danger and have more fun in the winter backcountry. In Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, 3rd Edition, acclaimed snow and avalanche expert Bruce Tremper provides easy-to-understand avalanche safety tips and skills, including the latest snow research and techniques for evaluating snowpack, as well how to rescue companions in the event of an avalanche. Other topics include: How to evaluate terrain and decide whether it's safe or dangerous How avalanches work How to test snow stability How to control your exposure and lower your risk Safe travel techniques What to do if you're caught in an avalanche Search-and-rescue strategies Managing the human factors that contribute to accidents This fully revised and updated third edition of Bruce's best-selling book is organized according to the structure of American Avalanche Association classes, and all topics have been updated and reviewed by peer experts. This edition also features a wholly new chapter in which Bruce pulls all the pieces together to create an organized, step-by-step system for making decisions off, and on, the mountain. As Rocky Mountain News proclaimed, "No one who plays in the mountain snow should leave home without having studied this book." Clear, comprehensive, and engaging, Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain shares everything skiers, snowboarders, and other backcountry travelers need to know to stay safe in the mountains.
Winter recreation in the mountains has increased steadily over the past few years, and so has the number of deaths and injuries caused by avalanches. Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain covers everything you need to know to avoid trouble in avalanche terrain: what avalanches are and how they work, common myths, human activities that lead to avalanche trouble, what happens to victims when an avalanche occurs, and rescue techniques. Provides step- by-step instruction for determining avalanche hazards, using safe travel technique, and making effective rescues.
Snow avalanches are the greatest source of danger for mountain travellers in winter. This book focuses on two basic user groups: those who wish to avoid avalanche hazard by careful route-finding, and those who deliberately seek steep slopes to ski or board. It explains the basics of snow and avalanches, and identifies the avalanche terrain.
ABCs of Avalanche Safety, 3rd Edition is still the handy pocket guide offered at a bargain price. And it is still loaded with the vital information you need to survive in the mountains: how to determine potential avalanche hazard, traveling safely in avalanche terrain, what to do if you're caught in an avalanche, and search and rescue techniques. A respected authority since 1961, this enduring classic has been updated with the very latest research in the field, including avalanche transceiver technology.
CLICK HERE to download the chapter on "Backcountry Forecasting & Decisions" from The Avalanche Handbook * Information on the unique characteristics of alpine snow, snow slab instability, terrain variables, skier triggering of avalanches, and the nature of avalanche motion * Chapters on the elements of backcountry avalanche forecasting and the decision-making process * This is the text used by search and rescue professionals, ski patrol groups, and outdoor education programs Technical yet accessible, The Avalanche Handbook, 3rd Edition, covers the formation, character, effects, and control of avalanches; rescue techniques; and research on understanding and surviving avalanches. Illustrated with nearly 200 updated illustrations, photos and examples, this updated edition offers exhaustive information on contributing weather and climate factors, snowpack analysis, the newest transceiver search techniques, and preventative and protective measures, including avalanche zoning and control.
Avalanche safety educator Bruce Tremper’s recently published Avalanche Essentials is a terrific little tome that condenses the conventional wisdom into 189 pages. The book is profusely illustrated with numerous diagrams and real-life photos. A thorough index rounds things out, making the book useful for research or as a fulcrum during safety classes and seminars. -- Wildsnow.com CLICK HERE to download the first chapter on "How Dangerous Is The Brain" from Avalanche Essentials * Easy-to-understand safety tips and checklists to help anyone stay safer in avalanche terrain * Small, take-along resource to reference in the field and assist decision making * Companion to Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, the bestselling avalanche text in the U.S. Winter athletes don’t necessarily want to be snow scientists, but playing in avalanche country does require basic knowledge of the risks in order to stay safe. This new guide by renowned avalanche expert Bruce Tremper is simple, accessible, and offers just the basics — an Everyman’s guide to avalanche safety that won’t overtax your average ski bums, but will keep them safe when they’re going for 12 consecutive months of powder. Avalanche Essentials is for everyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of avalanche awareness, focusing on systems and checklists, step-by-step procedures, decision-making aids, visual terrain and weather cues, rescue techniques, gear, and more. Avalanche Essentials is intended for broader use by skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, hikers, climbers, and snowshoers. Because it steers clear of more complex topics (e.g., snow metamorphism), it’s perfect for generalists as well as anyone who has studied avalanche safety and likes to keep a pocket reference while in potentially dangerous terrain.
Book which focuses on teaching backcountry travellers to recognize, evaluate, and avoid avalanche hazards by gathering available key information and clues from the snowpack, weather, and terrain.