Introduction

Avalanches are when a small or large amount of snow descend quickly down the mountain. 

Types of Avalanches and their consequences

Loose-Snow Avalanches

In contrast to the basic definition of an avalanche, loose snow avalanches occurs when there is a large amount of weakly bonded snow on the surface. These avalanches are recognizable by their characteristic "V" pattern that it forms as the snow descends and fans out. These avalanches do not pose to much of a hazard as they do not cause much environmental damage nor do they regularly bury people. However, you should still be careful if one of these carry you into a trees or rocks or even traps you into a hole and then buries you. 

Wet Sluff

As the name implies, wet sluffs have a higher water content.  This could be caused by rain or a hot day melting the snow like in spring. Nevertheless, this avalanche is heavier and has more mass than loose snow avalanches. 

Slab Avalanches

Slab avalanches are what we commonly think of when we think of avalanches. Buried underneath a denser snowpack lies weakly bonded snow. As such, the foundation fails and it begins breaking into slab. These slabs are typically much larger than the previous two avalanches and they are much more destructive and can bury a person easily. Slab avalanches are broken into four categories:

- Hard Slabs:

Hard slabs consist of high density snow. These slabs usually remain intact even after the avalanche

- Soft Slabs: 

Soft slabs consist of low density snow and break up a lot more after an avalanche. They also produce smaller avalanches than hard slabs. 

- Wet Slabs:

Wet slabs contain a high water content and are very dense. 

- Wind Slabs:

Wind slabs form as a result of fast winds.