SKI

INCLUDED BELOW ARE THREE ARTICLES ON THE HISTORY OF SKIING. ENJOY.

FIS TIMELINE. A SKI HISTORY

FIS (Federation International de Ski). TIMELINE.
From the International Ski History Association at skiinghistory.org
vintage winter.org

This list of historical events was compiled in 2005/7 by a working group of ski historians from several countries, under the direction of Elisabeth Hussey. It was subsequently corrected and expanded before publication in 2008 on the FIS website. During a redesign of the FIS website the timeline disappeared. It's provided here as a potential research tool.
Wherever possible the source of the information listed has been added in italics, so that it can be checked.
From 1897 until today about 250 pieces of skis and some poles have been dug up in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.They range in age from about 6,000 BC to 600 AD. A major source is Gosta Berg’s “Finds of Skis from Prehistoric time in Swedish Bogs”, Stockholm: Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalts Forlag 1950, whose book, as the title makes plain, analyses only those from Sweden. Other Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Russian researchers have also written on bog skis. The list below of these skis includes the earliest finds from each country and also those which have something special about them. Inevitably the list is subjective. In prehistoric times Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia did not exist as political states but we have used 2007 political borders when listing the various skis.
The same may be said of China and – later - when we record information from Germany, Austria and other countries, we use today’s frontiers even though many have changed and some have disappeared.
Historians now use BP for “before present” but we have kept to BC and AD.   Dating is now done by radio carbon and pollen analysis and is given as follows: 5820+/-80BC
                                             6,300BC
-6300-5000BC Oldest skis found in Russia were near Lake Sindor (about 1,200km northwest of Moscow). Skis made of hard wood. Grigori M Burov “Some Mesolithic wooden artefacts from the site of Vis I in the European North-east of the USSR” in Clive Bonsall (Ed) “The Mesolithic in Europe”. Papers presented at the Third International Symposium, Edinburgh: John Donald (1985) 392-395
                                                        6,000BC.
-The word “ski” (from Suksi) is used in Finland. Eino Nikkila 1966 & Eero Niskali 2001.
                                                        5,100BC
-5100+/-150 Oldest ski found in Norway was Vefsn Nordland Ski. Information from Steinar Sorenson, Glomsdal, Museum. Karin Berg, “Ski I Norge” Oslo: Aventura 1993 , 14
                                                       4,000BC
-Rock carvings found at Bolommid, Norway. Rune Flaten. Ski History Conference 2004.
                                                        3,350BC
-3,343-2939BC skis found from Drevja. Rune Flaten. Ski History Conference 2004
                                                        3,300BC
-The Salla ski (earlier the Kuolajarvi ski) was found in Finland in 1938. Originally 180cm long. Circa 15cm wide. Eero Naskali. On Ancient Skis. 2nd Historical Conference. 2001.

                                                       3,000BC                                                                         -Bog finds and rock paintings in Russia and Scandinavia prove the use of skis by people at that time. Half a ski and pole were found in Latvia and ski found in Pskov region.                                                                                                 ``                               2,700BC
-Two complete skis and a pole dating from this time were dug out of a bog at Kalvetrask Sweden, in 1924 . Berg dated them 1300 but carbon dating proved them to be 2700BC Jakob Vaage 12 June 1984.
                                                     2,500BC
-The Hoting Ski Angermanland, dating from about this time was dug out of a Swedish bog in 1921. Gosta Berg “Finds of Skis from Prehistoric Time in Swedish Bogs” Stockholm Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalts Forlag 1950 Suomen Museo XXXV 86-88 Toivo I eItkoen “Finlands fornskidor” Pa Skidor (1937) 72
-Circa 2,500BC Rock Carving of skier (carbon dated) were made at Rodoy, a Norwegian island north of the Arctic Circle.
                                                      2,000BC
-Circa 2000 BC Rock carvings in East Karelia by Lake Aaninen & River Uikujoki. Early Stone Age. Several hunters with skis. Eero Naskali Lahti 1990 & Eino Nikkila 1966
                                                     1,700BC
-1,700-1500BC Bronze Age rock carvings including a skier on Aeskove Cultur. Also clay vessel with illustration of skier.
                                                     1,500BC
-Southern Finland Riihamaki ski. Suomen Museo XXXV, 86-88   Toivo I Itkonen “Finlands Fornskidor” Pa Skidor (1937) and Eero Naskali 1990 & 2001
                                                       770BC
- +/- 100 The Sysma Ski in Finland. Curved edge underneath.   Eero Naskali 1990 & 2001
                                                       450BC
- 450+/-100 Liperi ski found 1897 in eastern Finland with flat sole and rounded boot space. Eero Naskali Lahti 1990
                                                     200BC-200AD
- 200BC-200AD China. First known documentary reference to skiing from the West Han period.    In Chinese Shang Caizhen et al (Eds) “The History of Skiing in China.” Wuhan: Chinese Ski Association and the Cultural and Historical Working Association of the States Sports in China 1993. In English see Liu Quilu and Liu Yueye, “Sports on Ice and Snow in Ancient China.” In Matti Goksoyr et al   (Eds) Winter Games Warm Traditions. Lillehammer: Ishpes, 1994 70-71

                                                    542 AD
-Skis lined with badger skin and a pair of ancient bindings found at Mantta. Eero Naskali On Ancient Skis. 2nd Ski History conference 2001 c.900 Skis mentioned in a 16th century account by Bishop Oddur in Iceland. Cited by Thorstein Einarsson. Winter Sport in Iceland. Matti Goksoyr. Winter Games Warm Traditions.

                                                      552
-Procopius in “The Gothic Wars” refers in Greek to Scrithiphini (Finns who glided).

                                                    600
-Written sources of skiing in the north – Procopius, Jordanes, Paulius Diaconus
- 7th-10th Century – evidence in writing from China of skis used by central Asian people.
                                                     618
-618-907 - The Chinese referred to Mongol-Turkish tribes: “The wooden-horse Turks are accustomed to skim over the ice on so-called wooden horses, that is, on sledges (or runners) which they bind to their feet to run over the ice. And they take poles as supports and push themselves rapidly forward“. Carl Luther, British Ski Year Book 1952
                                                      629
-Thieh-lo tribe brought tribute “riding on pieces of wood hunt deer over the ice.” Described by Dr Joseph Needham
                                                     780
-780-799 Paulus Warnefrid from Longobardia describes the Finns as skiing (skritofinns) as does Ignatius in his book “Suomen maatiede” (The geography of Finland) H.S. 1891
                                                      900
-c 900 Skis mentioned in 16th century by Bishop Oddur in Iceland. Thorstein Einarsson “Winter Sport in Iceland” Matti Goksoyr: “Winter Games Warm Traditions”. 54.
-c. 900 The old Ladoga ski in Russia. Eero Naskali & 2nd FIS Ski History Conference, Lahti 2001
                                                        950
-Ullr appears as a protector of hunters and fishermen in the Elder Edda. Jakob Vaage. “Milepeler og merkedager giennom 4000 ar” Norske Skiloperer Ostlandet Nord Oslo:Ranheim 1955 Rune Flaten “Wer war Skigud Ull? Arbok
                                                         995
-Olav Tryvasson boasted that he is “better on skis than other men” Snori Sturlason, Heimskringla: the Olaf Sagas. Trans: Samuel Lang, London Dent 1915 reprinted 1930 10
                                                      1000.
-1000-1200 The poem “Lemminkainen Skiing after the Elk”. Eero Naskali Lahti.1990.   Using skis of different lengths, left (lyly) for gliding, right (kalhu) for kicking. Eero Naskali 1990. Helena Parviainen 2004
                                                      1050
-Rune stones found from Ballingsta   Falkner: “Schneesport an Schule”
                                                       1199
-Battle between Finnmarkers and Danes who used skis. Saxo Grammaticus: “History of Denmark.”
                                                       1206
-The Birkebeiners, Thorstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka rescued the 2-year-old Prince Hakon Hakonson, heir to the throne, skiing over the Dovre mountains from Lillehammer to Osterdalen. Since 1932 the “Birkebeiner” race has been run along the supposed route from Rena to Lillehammer. “The Saga of King Hakon” c. 1270. Remembered best in the 1869 painting by Knut Bergslien.
                                                        1250                                                           Kongsspielet, a Norwegian Book of Manners with a short section on skiing. The King’s Mirror.”Translated by Laurence M Larson. New York.Twayne 1917 103/104

                                                        1518
-Von Herbertstein travelled from Vienna to Moscow and described skiers in his book “Rerum Moskoviticum) published in 1556. The skiers carried one stick and had short skis. Eino Nikkila 1966.
                                                        1520
-Rules were promulgated about hunting on skis in Norway. Vaage. Skienes Verden. Oslo Hjemmenes 1979 251
                                                        1521-2
-Fenno-Sweden’s Kustaa Eeriksson later the king Kustaa Vaasa (Gustav Vasa) led the fight of the Taala people against the Danish troops and they used skis. He also asked many of his warlords to equip troops with skis. Gustav Vasa had to fly on skis.    Near Salen two farmers from Mora helped him and brought him on skis over 90km to Mora to found the Vasa dynasty to rule Sweden. The Vasaloppet, from Salen to Mora in Sweden was founded in 1922 to commemorate their journey. Eino Nikkila 1960 “The Story of the Ski.”
                                                         1535
-Norwegian postal decrees were formulated. Vaage. Skienes Verden.
                                                        1539
-Publication of the Carta Marina (map of Finland) drawn by Olaus Magnus, a Swedish Catholic Bishop shows two men and a woman hunting on skis. Elfriede R Knauer “Die Carta Marina des Olaus Magnus von 1539” Gottingen Gratia 1981.
                                                        1550
-In the 1550s the situation on the Karelia isthmus was unsettled. A furious battle broke out late in the winter of 1555 in the district of Kivennapa. Ivan Bibikovin with Finnish ski troops led a Russian army of 5,000-6,000 men from the east along the Viipuri road to Kivennapa. Bailiff Juhana Matinpoika led 500 peasants including ski troops at the village of Joutselka. The Finns won the battle.   Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski.” 1966
                                                        1555
-Olaus Magnus, a Swedish Bishop, published his book “History of the People of Septentrionalibus”. In 1567 it was published in German at Strasburg.   An English translation by Peter Fisher and Humphrey Higgins, edited by Peter Foote, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1966. 20 editions appeared translated into French, Italian, German and English. The woodcut illustrations were particularly useful. As people from Central Europe learnt about skiing from various publications, they began to travel further on skis and write about their journeys. Their accounts are mostly in museums. All over Scandinavia, in the Baltic countries and Russia there were soldiers trained to fight on skis.
                                                       1573
-Herman Fleming attacked Inkerinmaa. Some infantry and 900 peasants used skis.
Eino Nikkila – “The Story of the Ski” 1966
                                                      1578
-“Sarmatiae Eurpeae Descriptio” by Alexander Guagnus has drawings of Russian skiers with skis just over 1meter long. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski” 1966
                                                                                                                                                                      1590
-c1590 The Hameenkyro ski found with raised footspace. Eero Naskali Lahti 1990

                                                           1609
-1609-1617 Skitroops were used for scouting in Fenno-Sweden battle against Russia.
                                                           1616
-In the Glebovan village peace negotiations a Finnish warlord, Jaakko de la Gardie and a Netherlander, Antonis Goeteeris describe how the village was guarded by skitroops. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski” 1966
                                                       1644
-Johannis Scheffer: “Argentotensis Lapponiae”. Frankfurt-am-Main, republished in 1673, then in English in 1674 and German in 1675. The English version is John Shefferus “The History of Lapland” (Oxford).   At the theater in Oxon 1674. Well known illustration of unequal length of skis.
                                                       1682
-Second edition of Lapponia by Scheffer with drawings of hunters on skis (both skis the same length). Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski” 1966
                                                       1689
-Janez Vaikard Valvasor of Slovenia described people of the Bloke plateau using wooden boards to “swerve like snakes” to avoid obstacles when coming down steep slopes through snow. Ales Gucek In the Tracks of Oldtime Skiing. Johannes Weichard Valvasor Die Ehre des Hertsogthums Krain, Laibach.
-Skade, goddess of skiing appears in Presten Jonas Ramus “Norig Regnum” Rune Flaten “Skiguddinnen Skade” Arbok (2000)                                             ………………..
                                                   1700
-1700-1721 Great Nordic War. Russians used ski troops when attacking the Karelia
Isthmus. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski” 1966.
                                                     1708
-In “Voyage vers le Septentrion” there are drawings of Samojedi hunters with short skis, turned up at both ends. Eino Nikkila. “The Story of the Ski” 1966.
                                                      1722
-Greenlanders pictured on skis. Hans Egde.
                                                      1733
-First rules for military on skis made by Jens Henrik Ernahusen (1688-1752).
                                                        1741
-First depiction of skier with two poles. P Hogstrom “Beschreibung von des unter schwedischer krone gehorigen Lappland”. Trans Templin. Stockholm and Leipzig: von Rother. Leipzig 1748.                                                                                                            - The Governor of Kymenkartano and Nyland, K.J. Stjernstedt, ordered defending
ski troops not to hesitate to attack but before the impact to withdraw and surround the enemy. Eino Nikkila. “The Story of the Ski” 1966.
                                                       1761
-Waxing mentioned by C Hals, Elverum.
                                                       1767
-Prizes for military ski competitions.
                                                       1775
-Literary reference to skiing in Germany. “Mineralogische Geschichte des sachsischen Erzgeberge.” Hamburg 1775 cited by Fritz Benk. “ Geschichte des Skilaufs”. Innsbruck. Leopold-Franzen Universtat 1953 PhD thesis. Skiing is again mentioned in the Erzgebirge in 1804 in Kael August Engel “Erdbescheibung von Sachsen 1804” cited in Der Winter VII (January 1933) 106.

                                                      1779
-Description of skis of unequal length (95cm short and 160 long) with sealskin. Nicolai Jonge Jordbeskrivelse.
                                                       1780
-Skiing recorded in Weardale, England approximately this date. Ski Notes & Queries, December 1970.
                                                        1790
-1790s Russian skiers in Alaska. M.D. Teben’kov. “Atlas of the Northwest Coasts of America from the Bering Straits to Cape Corrients and the Aleutian Islands with several sheets on the Northeast Coast of Asia” compiled by Teben’kov when he was Governor of Russian Alaska and published in 1852. Cited in Dave Brann “Russian skiers the first to make tracks in North America” in E.John B Allen (Ed) International Ski History Congress 2002 Collected papers. New Hartford ISHA 2002 15-16.

-In Riesenkopf area, Silesia, a sort of ski was used. Johan Friedrich Zollner. “Briefe uber Schlesien auf eine Reise im Jahre 1791” 2 volumes Berlin 1791 and 1792 11 193.
                                                     1793
-1793-1804 Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths, philosopher and founder of new bodybuilding method in Germany, skied in Thuringia and recommended it in his book, published in 1804, “Gymnastics for the Young”.   Falkner. Formation of Workers Ski Sport in Germany.
                                                    1797
-Dutch ship’s captain, Cornelius de Jong wrote of Norwegian ski corps and soldiers jumping with illustrations in his “Reizen naar de Kaap de Goode Hoop” Haarlem 1802.
                                                    1800
-In Telemark skiing was well known and in different forms was practised with great skill. It spread quickly all over Norway for health and enjoyment.   The people from Christiania gradually developed their own Christiania technique.
-Early 1800s. First ski-jumping competitions in Telemark on jumps made from snow. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski” 1966.
                                                     1803
-“The costume of Russian Empire” by Miller published in London has drawings of ostjak hunter with short skis and a stick with a spade tip. Eino Nikkila. “ The Story of the Ski.” 196.
                                                    1808
-1808-9 Ski troops fought the Nordic war between Sweden and Russia about Finland.
Olaf Rye (1791-1849) recorded as having jumped 15 alen (c. 30ft) the start of keeping records.
-1808-9 Mamiya Rinshu visited Japan and described and drew skiing in northern Hokkaido. “Hoku-Ezo zusetsu Description of the northern Ezo Hokkaido. Edo. 1855 in Anton Obholzer: Geschichte des Skis und Skistockes.” Schorndof bei Stuttgart Hofmann.  1974 17-18 (sometimes called Rinzo Mamiya)
1812
-Napoleon’s forces during retreat were harrassed by Russians on skis. T.I Ramenskai Lyzhnyi vek Rossii. 3rd edition Moscow Svetskii Sport 1998 15 and L.M. Butin Lyzhnyi Sport. Moscow Academia 2000. 12 (neither gives sources).
                                                1815
-17 November – 1895 Oscar Wergeland born Kristiansand NOR. Norwegian military officer, who trained his troops to ski and wrote two books. “Skilober-exercitie Efter Nutidens Stridsmaade, Skytterlag of Skoler Tilegnet.” about how to ski. Kristiansand: Steen, 1863 and two years later his “Skilobning, dens Historie og Kreidgsanvendelse; nogle Bidrag dertil samt til Belysning af vore tidligere Vaernepliktsforhold. Christiania Schibsted.” 1865.on skis and skiing in Norway Einar Sunde. “Oscar Wergeland: an Apostle for skiing”. John Allen (Ed) International Ski History Congress 2002.
                        1825
-10 June – 9 March 1897. Sondre Norheim born Morgedal, NOR. Improved ski and bnding design. Introduced Telemark. Expert ski jumper. In 1868 won first ski competition in Christiania aged 42. Emigrated to Minnesota USA in 1884. Died North Dakota.
                                                 1827
-Snowshoe Thompson. 1827-1876 Born Jon Thorsteinson Rui Tinn in Norway. He learnt to ski as a child, emigrating to US aged 10 with his family. He skied in the Midwest and went to California in 1851, to work briefly as a gold miner, then bought a ranch west of Sacramento, and became mail carrier in 1855. He was already an accomplished Sierra skier, who made his own skis and taught himself to use them and in 1856 started his 90-mile route - Genoa, Nevada to Placerville California. He died in Genoa. Dan de Quille: “Snowshoe Thompson Territorial Enterprise” is hagiographic. A balanced treatment in Kenneth Bjork: “Snowshoe Thompson, Fact and Legend”. Norwegian-American Studies and Records 1956 62-88
                                                     1835
-Elias Lonnrot put the Kalevala together from numerous tales making Leminkainen the ski running, elk-hunting hero. “The Kalevala: epic poem of Finland” translated by J.M. Crawford, New York Columbian 1891
                                                      1840
-1840s. Glassworkers at Schreiberhau used 1meter skis for descent only.
                                                       1841
-Skier reported in Wisconsin, USA Billed-Magazin (1 May 1869) 172
                                                        1850
-In the Giant Mountains skis about lm long and 15cm wide were used.
-Sondre Norheim made heel straps using birch tree roots.
-First competitions run in Norway about this time.


1851
-1851-1938 Fritz Huitfeldt born Borgund, NOR– ski designer and manufacturer, binding inventor. Ski jumper with tips down. 1886-1893 Secretary of Norwegian Ski Association. Organiser of Huseby competitions.   Published “Laerebog i Skilobning.” Leif Torgersen lecture FIS Ski Historical Conference 2001.
-L.H. Hagen of Christiania sold skis as a business (among many other items for sale) Vaage. “Skienes Verden.”
                                                        1852
-First newspaper account of a downhill ski race in California.   Ski racing became popular in the goldmining camps of the Feather River Canyon (Northern Sierra).
                                                        1853
-Skiing reported from Danzig and Stettin. “En Skifaered i Danzig Fra Fjeld og Hari Christiania Cammermener” 1867 72-79.
                                                        1854
-Skiing reported in Australia. Vaage “Skienes Verden” but it seems unlikely that it was so early. Certainly by 1861 there were many people on skis, as reported in a number of papers. “Sydney Morning Herald” 6 August 1861 and “Yass Courier “ 10 August 1861.
                                                        1855
-Skiing reported in New Zealand, Vaage “Skienes Verden” but no supporting evidence.
-Middle of the 19th Century. The first races were organised and skiclubs founded in
Norway.
                                                           1856
-25th February -20th June 1940 Mathias Zdarsky born Kozichowitz CZE. Founder of Alpine skiing technique, which he taught at his Lilienfeld school. Invented competitions through gates. He shortened skis, invented firmer bindings and taught how to use stem turn on steep slopes. Used single pole. Suffered terrible injuries in avalanche in 1916. Wrote important book on Lilienfeld Technique.
                                                          1859
-Bjornstjerne Bjornson wrote “Der ligger et Land mot den evige Sne.” Tor Bomann
Larson “Den Evige Sne”. Oslo Cappelen 1993
-Skis first appeared in Switzerland at Sils-Maria and Silvaplana, made by the smith,              Pedrun.
                                                           1860
-Waxes: Moko from Chinese labour who called anything that would “make go” the skis “Moko”.W. Hughes “Australian Ski Year Book (1931) 43
-1860s Engadine children amused themselves on barrel stave skis.
-Sondre Norheim jumped 30 metres without poles so held the record for more than 30 years. FIS History.
-1860s Skis were used by miners in Durham, England. “She” TP’s Weekly 12th February 1904 226.
-1860s Competition was frequent in winter in Norway and Norwegians who travelled to work or study in Europe took their skis with them – Gerd Falkner.
                                                          1861
-1861-1930 Fridtjof Nansen explorer on skis and writer. His book, “On Skiing Across Greenland.” published in 1890 and translated into many languages, had an immense influence on the spread of skiing in Europe.
-First newspaper accounts of skiing in Austra1ian goldcamp (Kiandra) probably by miners from California. Yass Courier, 10th August and Sydney Morning Herald, 6, 12 August.
-Trysil Skytte-og Skiloberforening founded.   First ski club in Norway. Vaage “Skienes Verde
                                                      1862
-First ski-jump competition, held in Trysil, NOR,

                                                     1864
-Johannes Badrutt kept St Moritz open in winter and bet his English guests they would find it as sunny as in summer. He won his bet so St Moritz became a centre of winter sports.
                                                    1868.
-Sondre Norheim demonstrated Telemark and Christiania at Iverslokkan, Norway ISHA.
-Konrad Wild brought Norwegian ski to Mitlodi, Glarus. Reported in Aftenbladet 10 February.
-Deutsche Turnerschaft (German Gymnasts Federation) founded.
                                                     1870
-Sondre Norheim introduced the Telemark Ski at Christiania.
-Skiing reported from the Otago goldfields in New Zealand. Warburton “Early New
Zealand Ski-ing” “The Australian and New Zealand Ski Year Book.” 1936 Jakob
Vaage “Norske Ski erobar verden Oslo: Gyldendal” 1952, 218 citing “The New Zealand
Railways Magazine. (1930.”)
-Competition on skis became an important part of life in Norway
                                                        1871
-An article in Aftenposten, (Oslo newspaper) reported that two brothers left Norway in June to work in Canada. One found work on the railroad between Mt Forest and Kincardine and the other between Mt Forest and Georgian Bay. In winter they both used skis regularly and‘have attracted attention by the speed they go’. The first nations people and other railroad workers were on snowshoes. This is considered to be the first evidence of skiing in Canada. E. John B Allen Plymouth State College NH USA – Canadian Journal of History of Sport Vol XVII No l May 1986. Carly S King, Curator, The Canadian Ski Museum, Ottawa ON Canada.
1871- 14 March 1954 E.C. Richardson born in Dumbarton, GBR. Visited Norway and Sweden 1894 Visited Davos in 1903, founded Davos English Skl Club and Ski Club of Great Britain,   Wrote Ski Running with Crichton Somerville and W.R. Rickmers and The Ski Runner with Henry Hoek.
                                                       1873
-8 April 1873-5 October 1949 Wilhelm Paulcke born Leipzig GER Professor of Geology and Minerology. Avalanche expert, ski explorer. In 1896 led a party which made first ascent of 3,000m Oberalpstock. In 1897 traversed Oberland glaciers.
-Dr Carl Spengler at Davos made limited experiments on large Lapland hunting skis given to his father.
-11 October- 4 December 1934 Colonel Georg Bilgeri born Bregenz AUT. Began to ski at Linz when 20, joined Tirol Kaiserjager Regiment 3 years later and led his platoon ski-mountaineering in Zillertal 3 years later. He was generous in teaching big classes in Sweden, Switzerland ,Turkey, Christiania and Telemark without charge and wrote instructions to guides which were captured in war. Learnt from Zdarsky but used 2 poles. Friend to British skiers, Honorary Member of Ski Club of GB. Died on Patscherkofel on the snow. G Seligman, British Ski Year Book 1935.
-Julius Payer used skis on his North Polar expedition and introduced them to Vienna.
-Skis reappeared on Bohemian side of Riesengebirge
                                                      1875
-In the collection of the Svenska Skidmuseet (Umea north of Stockholm, Sweden) is a ski from northern Canada dating between 1875 and 1877, used by Raatamava in the bush and for hunting. E.John B.Allen, Plymouth State College NH USA – Canadian Journal of History of Sport vol XVII No I May 1986 – Carly S. King Canadian Ski Museum, Ottawa.
                                                      1876
-1876, 1878 or 1880 foundation of Kiandra Snowshoe Club, Australia. Percy Hunter, “History of Australian Ski-ing Clubs.” Australian Ski Year Book (1928) 5
                                                      1878
-1878-9 A.E. Nordenskjold (born in Finland) travelled to north-east channel from Europe to the Baring sea via northern Siberia. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski”. 1966
-Finland raised its own army with skis as essential equipment. Eino Nikkila “The Story of the Ski.” 1966.
                                                      1879
-Ivar Holmquist born SWE. First President of International Ski Federation 1924-27.
President of Association for Promotion of Skiing & Open Air Activities in Sweden 1923-1950
-Norwegian Ski Federation founded. Competitions were organised at Huseby.                c. 10,000 spectators at first Huseby races near Oslo. Jakob Vaage”Skienes Verden”.
-Martin Strand founded industrial ski factory in Minnesota.
-23 March.First official Finnish ski competition held at Tyrnava. Lahti Ski Museum H.S.1891 samoin E&K 1969
-M Duhamel experimented with Swedish skis in Grenoble. Skis acquired from 1878 Paris Exhibition.
-Visit of Telemark peasants to Christiania. Hemmesvedt jumped 23m on Huseby Hill
-Mr A Birch, a Norwegian from Montreal, skied from Montreal to Quebec City
on “a pair of patent Norwegian snowshoes”.   The snowshoes were made of wood
and measured nine feet long and six inches wide. An illustration shows Mr Birch on
skis. Canadian Illustrated News 1879 Submitted by Carly S King, Curator/Director.
The Canadian Ski Museum Ottawa, ON Canada.
                                                    1880
- 1880-1883 Monks, especially the Prior Henri Lugon, and a monastery servant on St Bernard Pass were given skis by a passing Norwegian and experimented with them.         -Two brothers from Gorlitz skied on the Peterbaude in the Giant Mountains.
-1880’s Lord Frederick Hamilton (brother-in-law and aide to Gov. General
Lord Lansdowne) introduced skiing in the Ottawa ON area – as illustrated in a
photograph of Archie Gordon on skis on the grounds of Rideau Hall. Collection,
The Canadian Ski Museum, Ottawa ON Submitted by Carly S. King, Curator/
Director The Canadian Ski Museum, Ottawa ON Canada.
-About this time skiers (mostly Norwegians studying mining and metallurgy in
Clausthal-Zellerfeld) enjoyed skiing in the Harz Mountains. A Dr Krause brought 3 pairs of skis from Norway to Hirschberg. Falkner: Formation of Workers Ski Sport in Germany.
                                               1881
-John F. Baddely founded Yukki Ski club at St Petersberg - the earliest English Skiclub. (drawing in Ski Club of Great Britain at Wimbledon, London)
-Advertisement for ski school in Oslo. Aftenbladet 9th February 1891.

                                               1882
-Norske Ski Club founded in Berlin, New Hampshire (apocryphal version puts this date as 1872).
-Hickory imported from USA used for making skis in Norway. Vaage Skienes
Verden. 260
                                                  1883
-Wilhelm Paulcke, at school in Davos, experimented with ski procured by Norwegian schoolteacher and copied by local wagon maker. Paulcke was first skier in central Europe whose efforts persisted.
-Nordenskjold expedition to Greenland in which two of his Sami, Lars Tuordas and
Anders Rossas, said they had covered about 467km in 57 hours. On return, in order to prove whether this was possible, the Jokkmokkmokk course was run over 220 kms which Lars Tuordas, won in 21 hours and 22 minutes. “Hier began Schwedens Skigeschichte”. TMS translated from the Swedish into German, Jokkmokk museum 1968. Falkner.
-Crosscountry and skijumping events were developed at Huseby. Whoever got the most points in the two disciplines was the winner. A cup was awarded for a womens’ race. Jakob Vaage Skienes Verden.
-1883-5 German pioneers began to explore the mountains: Arthur Ullrichs in the%2

LOCAL SKI HISTORY SKI HISTORY

About 10,000 years ago: With the retreat of glaciers after the last Ice Age, elk and reindeer begin migrating northward from Central Asia. Stone Age hunters follow the herds. They use snowshoes and skis when hunting -- these implements make the hunters faster over snow than elk and deer can move.
About 6,000 years ago: Skiing is well established across the Eurasian arctic regions. Archaelogical evidence is strong that hunters used skis from Norway to northwestern Russia.
16th century: First mentions of skiing in European literature, usually in reference to the "Scridfinns" ("Skiing Finns" or Lapps), the people who called themselves Saami.
18th century: Military units across Scandinavia have organized brigades of ski troops. First organized military competitions. Russian trappers bring skis to Alaska.
1843—First newspaper reference to an organized cross-country ski race, in Tromso, Norway.
1840s—Sondre Norheim, of Morgedal, Telemark, discovers the perfect heel strap, cleverly entwined shoots of the birch tree root, with enough stiffness to provide sufficient control of the ski to steer it and enough elasticity to stay snugly around the heel to keep the toe in the toestrap even going off a jump, making possible both modern downhill and ski-jumping. (HerW1996 p7)
1866—In a competition conducted by the Centralforeigning, or Central Ski Association in the Norwegian capital Christiania (now called Oslo), Sondre Norheim and his fellow Telemarkers demonstrate what is later called the telemark turn and the Christiania skidded stop turn. (Ski/R 1983 p33) (Her W1996 p7)
1868—Steam trains begin carrying mail, passengers and skiers into the mountains in Europe and North America.
1870—Sondre Norheim popularizes the first modern sidecut ski, the “Telemark ski,” setting the basic pattern followed for a century thereafter, producing a narrow-waisted ski that flexed more readily when edged, facilitating turns in soft snow. (Friedl )
1879—First North American ski manufacturing undertaken by Norwegian immigrant Martin A. Strand in Minnesota.
1882—Norske Ski Club, Berlin, New Hampshire, first modern ski club in America, is organized by resident Norwegians to remain oldest U.S. ski club with a continuous history. (Amski 1966 page 445)
1890—Publication of Paa Ski Over Grønland by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, detailing his pioneer 1888 traverse of southern Greenland, on skis dragging sledges for 300 miles, using oakwood skis with three grooves, using one long stick for part of the journey and two sticks on the inland ice. (Lunn 1952 p179)
1896—Retired school teacher Mathias Zdarsky of Lilienfeld, Austria, a village 90 miles west of Vienna, publishes the first book, Lillienfeld Skilaufer Technik, on the methodical use of the double stem brake and the stem turn, with the use of one long pole, in Alpine skiing for the ascent and descent of steep mountain sides. (Amski 1966 p445)
1905—National Ski Association founded at Ishpeming, Michigan with Carl Tellefsen, former jumper and head of the Ishpeming Ski Club, elected first president, following the first national jumping championship at Ishpeming. (Amski 1966 p445 )
1908—First mechanical ski tow, powered by a water mill, built by Rober Winkelhalder at his hotel in Germany's Schwarzwald region.
1910—First International Ski Congress is held at Christiania, Norway, an organization which became the forerunner of the Federation Internationale de Ski, the international ruling body of skiing. (Amski 1966 p446)
1910—In January, Johannes Schneider, the ski guide at the Hotel Post in St.Anton, Austria, since 1907 at 17 years of age, created the stem christie with an up-movement to close the skis in the turn in order to complete turns more easily, producing a sliding turn; its use later extended to all conditions as the expert turn that stood atop an integrated ski technique that began with the double stem brake or snowplow, and progressed through the single-stem to the stem christie, the basis for what became known as the Arlberg Technique. (Friedl) (Fairlie pp71-72)
1911—C.A. Lund, St. Paul, Minnesota founds a ski factory, later called the Northland Ski Company. Its hickory skis dominated the market for another 30 years. (Amski 1966 p446)
1911—First run of the world’s first downhill classic, the Roberts of Kandahar Cup, run over the Plaine Morte Glacier in Montana, Switzerland: winner, Cecil Hopkinson. (Friedl ) (Lunn 1952 p182)
1918—Johannes Schneider, returned from war service to the Hotel Post and, having taught thousands of WWI mountain troops to ski, used that disciplined structure to teach a growing influx of, mostly Swiss and British, his new technique.(Amski 1966 p446)
1920—First paid instructor in a U.S. ski school, Norwegian Henrik Jacobsen, hired at the Lake Placid Club, Lake Placid, N.Y. (Friedl )
1920-24— Hannes Schneider formalized his technique into an instructional system which became known as the Arlberg Technique. (Amski 1966 p446)
1921—First modern slalom race, the Alpine Ski Challenge Cup, held at Mürren, Switzerland, on Jan. 6, after rules set down by Arnold Lunn: first, J.A. Joannides. The following fall, the first systematic exposition, complete with diagrams of two-gate slalom, was published was published by Lunn in the British Ski Year Book. (Lunn Story1952 p183)
1921—German documentary film maker Arnold Fanck shows history’s first instructional film, Wunder des Schneeschuhs, based on the Arlberg System and demonstrated by “Hannes” Schneider and it has a successful premiere in Freiberg, Germany, Fanck’s home town. (Amski 1966 p446)
1921—In a disagreement with Walter Schuler, proprietor of the Hotel Post, over his taking time off from his ski school to make movies with Dr. Arnold Fanck, Hannes Schneider separated his ski school from the Hotel Post and became a seminal independent ski school.
1922—United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association formed. (Amski 1966 p446 )
1924—First Olympic Winter Games held at Chamonix, France, with
Nordic ski events only. (Amski 1966 p446) Norwegian Thorleif Haug becomes world’s first triple-gold-medal winner: He won the 18-km and 50-km cross-country and Nordic combined. He also won the bronze medal in jumping; Norwegians took home 11 of the 12 gold medals. (CompXc Dial p229 )
1924—The International Ski Congress becomes a permanent organization, the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS); Col. Ivar Holmquist is named first president. (Amski 1966 p446 -7-) (CompXc Dial p229 -5-) (Lunn 1952 p184 )
1925—NSA recognizes USEASA as an affiliate, and it later recognized the other regional ski organizations, forming a truly national organization. (Amski 1966 p446 )
1925—Hannes Schneider and Dr. Fanck publish The Wonders of Skiing (Wunder des Schneeschuhs), with stills from the movie as illustration, sell 100,000 copies in first year, making it the most important and widely read book about skiing in history; translated into English in 1931. (Friedl ) (Ski/R 1983 p36)
1926—First ski shop in the United States opens in Boston under owner Oscar Hambro from Norway. (Amski 1966 p446)
1926—Rudolf Lettner, an amateur mountaineer from Salzburg, patents a segmented steel edge to help skis hold on icy terrain.
1927—On March 8, the first modern downhill race in the United States was run on Mt. Moosilauke, NH, by the Dartmouth Outing Club. It was won by Charles N. Proctor, of Dartmouth. (1942 ASA pp26-30)
1927—Otto Schniebs emigrates from Germany to Waltham, Mass. to become the first Arlberg instructor in the U.S.; becomes coach of the Harvard team, official instructor for the Appalachian Mountain Club based in Boston, then history’s most successful college ski team coach beginning in 1930 at Dartmouth College, finally setting up an early ski school at Lake Placid in 1936.
1928—On March 9, the first American slalom set by Prof. Charles A. Proctor at Dartmouth College under Arnold Lunn’s experimental FIS rules was won by freshman Bob Baumrucker. (Hooke p231)
1928—Arnold Lunn and Hannes Schneider organize the first open international alpine combined—the Arlberg-Kandahar, March 31-April 1 at St. Anton, Austria, won by Austrian Benno Leubner. (Lunn 1952 p185 -7-) (Ski/R 1983 p36 ) (Amski 1966 p446 )
1928—Second Winter Olympics at St. Moritz held without alpine events, but FIS agrees to let The Ski Club of Great Britain organize FIS-sanctioned downhill and slalom races; U.S. Team, captained by Rolf Monsen, does creditably but wins no medals. (Friedl ) (Lunn 1952 p185)
1929—Peckett’s-on-Sugar Hill ski school, near Franconia, NH, founded by Katharine “Kate” Peckett to become the first resort based ski school in the U.S. Two German instructors taught that first year followed, in 1930, by the Duke Dimitri von Leuchtenberg. In 1931, Sig Buchmayr joined him and became school director the following year when the Duke left. Kate Peckett brought in more European instructors, e.g. the Marquis Nicholas degli Albizzi, or just “The Markee,” and Austrians Harold Suiter, Harold Paumgarten and Kurt Thalhammer to teach the Arlberg system. Among pupils were Nelson Rockefeller, Averell Harriman, Lowell Thomas, Minot Dole and Roger Peabody. (Adler Congress paper p17)
1929—First ski train in the United States runs from Boston to Warner, New Hampshire. (Amski 1966 p447)
1930—At the Univerity Winter Games at Davos, Switzerland, Austrian racers use the steel Lettner edge for the first time. They make razor-sharp turns and win easily. Alpine racing is transformed.
1931—First FIS World Alpine Championships at Mürren, Switzerland, Swiss racers Walter Prager wins the downhill and David Zogg wins the slalom; British racer Esme Mackinnon wins both women’s downhill and slalom. (Amski 1966 p447)
1932—Third Olympic Winter Games held at Lake Placid, New York, with downhill and slalom still excluded. (Amski 1966 p447)
1932—North America’s first rope tow is invented by Alex Foster and installed at Shawbridge, Quebec. It is powered by a Dodge automobile, jacked up on blocks, with a rope looped around a wheel rim. (Ski/R 1983 p37 ) (Amski 1966 p447 )
1933—Laminated ski construction patented simultaneously by Ostbye-Splitkein in Norway and Anderson & Thompson in Seattle.
1933—First National Downhill Championship is held at Mt. Moosilauke, New Hampshire, and won by Henry (Bem) Woods. (Amski 1966 p447 )
1933—Civilian Conservation Corps under Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt cuts ski trails. Vermont CCC director Montpelier’s Perry Merrill cut the first trails on Mt. Mansfield and became the Father of Vermont Skiing. (MAD 1993 )
1934—January 28 saw the first rope tow installed in the U.S. by Bob and Betty Royce, proprietors of the White Cupboard Inn, in Woodstock, VT. The Royces made sketches of Alec Foster’s first rope tow in Shawbridge, Quebec, and employed David Dodd, a local mechanic, to construct it for them on a sidehill owned by farmer Clinton Gilbert which the Royces leased for the winter. The tow, originally called the Ski-Way, consisted of a continuous loop of rope running over a series of wheels and was driven by the rear wheel of a Model A Ford. Bob Bourdon, a Woodstock native, was its first rider. Wallace “Bunny” Bertram took it over for the second season, improved the operation, renamed it the Ski Tow and eventually moved it to The Gully and then Suicide Six. (interviews Bob Bourdon, Betty Royce, et al)
1934—Ernest Constam, a Zurich engineer, builds world’s first J-bar, debuting in Davos in December, it is converted to a T-bar in 1936 (Ski/R 1983 p37) (Her v8-4 1996 p 15)
1934—Mt. Mansfield Club forms at Stowe, Vt. to encourage use of trails cut on the mountain by CCC. (Friedl )
1934—Limited production of a solid aluminum ski by M. Vicky in France.
1935—First U.S. National Downhill and Slalom championships at Mt. Rainier, Washington; open combined category won by Austrian Hannes Schroll of Salzburg, Austria; amateur combined by Dick Durrance. (Amski 1966 p447 )
1935—The first Kandahar cable binding holding the skier’s heel to the ski is introduced. (Amski 1966 p447 )
1935—The first overhead cable lift, a J-bar is built at Oak Hill in Hanover, New Hampshire, by the Dartmouth Outing Club. (Amski 1966 p448 -7-) (Friedl )
1935—The first U.S. Winter Sports Show, commonly referred to as ski shows, opened in the Boston Garden followed, in 1936, by New York’s first such show in Madison Square Garden. It drew an estimated 80,000 people and turned away thousands more.
1935—First European T-bar: the J-bar at Davos, is converted to a T-bar.
1936—First issue of Ski magazine is published in Seattle by Alf Nydin. Ski/R 1983 p38)(Amski 1966 p448)
1936—First Arlberg ski school at Mt. Mansfield with the arrival of Sepp Ruschp from Austria (Amski 1966 p448 ) under a contract with the Mt. Mansfield Club, starts teaching on a rope tow set up on the Toll House slope; (Friedl), becomes the first Certified Ski Instructor to graduate from the U.S. Examinations held at Woodstock, Vermont. (Ski/R 1983 p40 )
1936—Sun Valley, built by Averell Harriman as a Union Pacific project, opens with world’s first chairlifts put in on Dollar and Proctor hills, designed by Union Pacific Engineer Jim Curran, copied from the banana lifts used in Central America to load United Fruit cargo vessels. (Friedl)
1936—The Third Winter Games holds world’s first Olympic alpine events, a downhill and slalom combined, at Garmisch. Toni Seelos, barred as a professional, foreruns slalom and is timed 12 seconds faster that the winner, Franz Pfnuer of Germany. Birger Ruud of Norway wins the downhill of the combined using his jumping skis. (Amski 1966 p448 ) (Friedl)
1936—Benno Rybizka, a top instructor from Hannes Schneider’s St.Anton ski school, brought to Jackson, NH, by Carroll Reed to head up Reed’s new Eastern Slope Ski School headquartered in what is now the Wildcat Tavern. Mary Bird (Young) was European trained and Rybizka’s top assistant at Jackson. (Rybizka, Reed & Young interviews, local records)
1936—Ski survey of Aspen-Ashcroft area by Andre Roche, Ted Ryan, Billy Fiske, principals in the Highland Lodge, the first ski lodge in Roaring Fork Valley; Roche leads Aspen citizens in forming the Roaring Fork Winter Sport Club, later the Aspen Ski Club (which builds a six passenger boat tow in a clearing at the bottom of Aspen Mt., built from an old mine hoist and a truck engine). (Skico, 1986)
1937—First chairlift installed in the East at Belknap, New Hampshire. (Amski 1966 p448)
1937—Dick Durrance wins first Harriman Cup race at Sun Valley. (Amski 1966 p448 )
1938—Mt. Tremblant, Quebec opens in February with the first Canadian chairlift, built by Joseph Ryan at Mt. Tremblant, Quebec. (Amski 1966 p448) (Friedl)
1938—First certification examination of ski instructors held at Woodstock, Vermont. Sepp Ruschp becomes the first certified instructor in the United States. (Amski 1966 p448 )
1938—America’s second funicular, the Skimobile, installed on Mt. Cranmore at North Conway, New Hampshire. (Ski/R 1983 p40 ) (Amski 1966 p448 ); first Aerial Tramway in the United States is installed at Cannon Mountain, Franconia, New Hampshire. (Ski/R 1983 p40 ) (Friedl) (Amski 1966 p448)
1938—First U.S. Ski Patrol established at Stowe under Minot Dole as chairman of national committee.(Amski 1966 p448) (Friedl)
1938—Chairlift opens at Alta, Utah, constructed from mining hoist parts, financed by Salt Lake businessmen.
1938—Dave McCoy sets up rope tow at Mammoth Mt., California. (Friedl)
1939—Hannes Schnieder arrives in the United States and takes over leadership of the ski school at Mt. Cranmore. Schneider also developed the first groomed slope by cutting down trees and completely clearing the south slope of Mt.Cranmore. (Amski 1966 p448)
1939—Otto Lang presents the first American theater release ski film, Ski Flight at Radio City Music Hall on the same bill with the premiere ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (Ski/R 1983 p40)
1939—Hjalmar Hvam invents the world’s first useful release binding.(Amski 1966 p448 -7-) (Friedl)
1939—Sugar Bowl in Norden, California opened by John Wiley and Hannes Schroll. (Friedl)
1940—Alta Lodge is built by the Denver and Rio Grande; in 1941, James Laughlin buys the lift and the lodge, hires Dick Durrance as manager, lodge keeper and ski school director. (Friedl)
1940—T-bar, considered the first in America, is installed at Pico Peak, Vermont. (Ski/R 1983 p40)
1940—Second single chair in the East installed at Stowe, Vt. (Ski/R 1983 p41)
1940—Friedl Pfeifer installs three chairlifts to open Mt. Baldy at Sun Valley. (Friedl)
1941—Big Bromley opens under Fred Pabst in Vermont, with two J-bars (Friedl)
1941—Fred Willoughby leads Aspen Ski club in cutting the country’s most expert trail, Roch Run, part way up Aspen Mt. after the design drawn by Andre Roch. (Friedl)
1942—Tenth Mountain Division activated at Camp Hale, Pando, Colorado; National Ski Patrol named an official recruiting organization and Minot Dole rounds up 2000 volunteers and sends them to Pando in two months. (Friedl)
1945—Friedl Pfeifer meets with the City Council at Aspen and outlines the plan for creating a top international resort at Aspen. Later that year Pfeifer opens the Friedl Pfeifer Ski School, with partners Percy Rideout and John Litchfield as co-directors, and only instructors.(Friedl ) Paepcke meets with Friedl Pfeifer and plans begin for Aspen’s first ski lift. (Skico, 1986)
1946—Aspen Skiing Corporation formed under Walter Paepcke, replacing Pfeifer’s original Aspen Ski Company. (Amski 1966 p448 ) American Steel and Wire signs contract with Pfeifer to build #1 Chair (Friedl). Chair #1 opens, Dec. 14 (Skico 1986) Dec 15 (Ski/R 1983 p41). First lodges, bars, restaurants open: Skimore Lodge, The Alpine Inn, Crystal City Inn and the Red Onion; Aspen Ski Club holds 1946 SMRSA meet (Friedl) and the first Roch Cup in March.
1946—first Pomalift developed in Europe by Jean Pomalgalski. (Amski 1966 p448)
1946—P-Tex base invented by the Swiss firm Muller and Co. (Ski/R 1983 p41) Dynamic comes out with a Cellulix base. (Her V8-1 1996)
1948 —The first national periodical, Ski magazine evolves out of merger of Ski Illustrated (the changed name of the original Ski magazine),Ski News and Western Skiing. The new magazine is published by William T. Eldred. (Amski 1966 p449 )
1948—First chairlift in Midwest built at Boyne Mountain. (Amski 1966 p449 )
1948—Gretchen Fraser becomes the first American to win Olympic ski medals – a gold in the special slalom and a silver in the Alpine combined on February 5 at the Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Ski/R 1983 p42) (Amski 1966 p449 )
1949—Mad River Glen, Vermont; Squaw Valley, California, both opened. (Amski 1966 p449 )
1949—Howard Head markets the aluminum Head Standard, the first commercially successful aluminum ski. (Ski/R 1983 p43)
1950—First U.S. FIS World Championships at Aspen (alpine) and Lake Placid, New York. (jumping) and Rumford, Maine (cross-country). (Amski 1966 p449 ) Feb 12-18: races at Aspen held under the direction of Dick Durrance and Dave Bradley; Pfeifer coaches the U.S. women’s team. (Friedl)
1952—First artificially-made snow is made at Grossinger’s resort in New York; Fahnestock, New York, two years later, becomes first ski area to make snow on regular basis. (Amski 1966 p449)
1952—Andrea Mead captures gold medals in slalom and giant slalom at the Winter Olympic games in Oslo. (Ski/R 1983 p44 ) This is the first Winter Olympics at which giant slalom is recognized as a separate event. (Amski 1966 p449 -7-) First women’s cross-country in Winter Olympics, Oslo, 10 km. (CompXc Dial p229)
1954—Ski Hall of Fame dedicated at Ishpeming, Michigan. (Amski 1966 p449)
1955—Henke Speed Fit buckle boots appear. (Ski/R 1983 p44 )
1957—The first useful aluminum ski poles are made by Scott. (Ski/R 1983 p46
1958—Buddy Werner becomes first American male to win a major European combined, the Lauberhorn. (Amski 1966 p449)
1958—First U.S. gondola lift installed at the Wildcat area in New Hampshire. (Amski 1966 p450)
1958—Clif Taylor, considered the inventor of Graduated Length Method (GLM) graduates his first pupil, Ann Hedges, on a pair of 100 cm skis. (Ski/R 1983 p46)
1958—Sugarbush opens in Warren, Vermont; Damon and Sarah Gadd, founders. All-day lift ticket was $5.50. (MAD 1993)
1958—Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands open on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26 making Aspen the country’s largest ski resort. (Frield ) (Skico, 1986)
1960—Eighth Olympic Winter Games at Squaw Valley, California. first alpine Games in the U.S.; Penny Pitou wins silver medals in downhill and giant slalom, and Betsy Snite wins a silver medal in slalom. France’s Jean Vuarnet wins men’s downhill on metal skis. (Amski 1966 p450)
1960—Kneissl, Sailer and Plymold market the first commercially successful fiberglass skis. (Ski/R 1983 p47)
1961—Ski Industries of America (SIA), first nationwide trade organization, opens New York City offices. (Amski1966 p450)
1961—Instructors form Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) in Whitefish, Montana, under Bill Lash. All division demonstration teams show final technical forms of skiing. (Ski/R 1983 p47) (Amski 1966 p450 )
1962—Chuck Ferries becomes first American to win a European classic gate race, the Hahnenkamm slalom. (Amski 1966 p450)
1963—First U.S. resort association, the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) founded. (Amski 1966 p450)
1964—Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga become the first American men to win Olympic medals for alpine skiing, being second and third, respectively, in the slalom of the ninth Olympic Winter Games at Innsbruck, Austria. Jean Saubert ties for second in the giant slalom and places third in the slalom. (Amski 1966 p450)
1964—The first Lange all plastic buckle boots are commercially available. (Ski/R 1983 p49)
1967—The first World Cup Competitions staged. Credited with the Cup’s inception are U.S. Ski Team Coach Bob Beattie, French Ski Team Coach Honore Bonnet and French journalist Serge Lang. (Ski/R 1983 p49)
1980—The 13th Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, New York, for second time; third time in USA. Swede Thomas Wassberg wins 15-km race by one hundreth of a second, closest ever in cross-country ski racing. (CompXc Dial p231)
Category:

Compiled by Morten Lund and Seth Masia
Painting: Håkon Håkonsson, the two-year-old future king of Norway, being taken from Lillehammer to Østerdalen in 1206. Ultimate safety for the prince lay further on, in Nidaros (now Trondheim). The intrepid Birkebeiner skiers are Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka. Painted in 1869 by Knud Larsen Bergslien (1827-1908). Thanks to Mike Brady for the history.
Prehistory: Rock paintings and skis preserved in bogs show that hunters and trappers used skis at least 5000 years ago, but skis are even older than that: As glaciers retreated, stone age hunters followed reindeer and elk herds from central Asia's Altai region, moving to the northwest and northeast, using skis covered with fur that worked like modern climbing skins. Skis came to be used across the Eurasian arctic regions.
Early modern period: Skis were in regular use by Scandinavian farmers, hunters and warriors throughout the Middle Ages. By the 18th century, units of the Swedish Army trained and competed on skis.
Before 1840: The cambered ski was developed by woodcarvers in the province of Telemark, Norway. The bow-shape cambered ski arches up toward the center to distribute the weight of the skier more evenly across the length of the ski. Before this, skis had to be thick to glide without bowing downward and sinking in the snow under the skier’s weight, concentrated in the middle. If a ski is allowed to bow downward this way, the skier finds himself constantly skiing uphill, out of a hole his own weight has made in the snow. Camber made possible a thinner, lighter ski that did not sink at the middle. The thin, cambered ski floated more easily over soft snow, flexed more easily to absorb the shock of bumps, maneuvered more easily because it was lighter and easier to swing into a turn. The thinner, lighter ski ran faster and maneuvered with better agility than the clumsier sideways skid of the plank-thick older “transportation” skis. In a parallel development, skimakers learned that sidecut enabled more agile turning.
1868: Sondre Norheim demonstrated the Telemark ski, with a sidecut that narrowed the ski underfoot while the tip and tail remained wider. In the same way as the camber, the sidecut produced a ski that flexed more easily when tipped on edge, so that in a turn its edge followed the shape of the turn instead of skidding sideways. He also popularized a stiffer binding that held the heel centered over the ski when turning. Norheim and his friends formed a small pioneer group of early skiers who improved the ski as they developed the first dynamic turns in downhill running, from 1850 to 1900.
1882: Most high-quality Eurpean skis were made of strong, springy ash. In 1882, the first hickory skis produced in Norway. Hickory is so hard and tough that it was difficult to work with traditional hand tools. But with modern carbon-steel tools, Norwegian ski makers began turning out hickory skis. The tough wood made it possible to build a thinner, more flexible ski with good strength, and the hard base was less likely to gouge and scar enough to slow the ski down or cause it to sideslip during a downhill run. Hickory was imported at great expense from Louisiana, and Norwegian immigrants in Wisconsin and Minnesota very quickly figured out that, with easier access to lumber stocks, they could make excellent quality hickory skis more cheaply than their friends back in the old country could. By 1887 several Norwegian skimakers, like the Hemmestveit brothers, had relocated to the U.S.
1893: The first two-layer laminated ski was built by H.M. Christiansen, in Norway. Using a tough hickory or ash base with a lighter body of spruce or basswood made for a lighter, springier ski and reduced the need to carve up thick planks of expensive hardwoods. But the flexible hide glues then in use were not strictly waterproof, so the skis tended to delaminate after a few days’ hard use. Meanwhile, in Glarus, Switzerland, carpenter Melchior Jacober launches what is apparently the first ski factory in Central Europe.
1905: An alpine unit of the French Army undertook the first series production of a Telemark-style ski in France, at Briancon.
1926: The segmented steel edge, invented by part-time mountaineer Rudolph Lettner of Salzburg, Austria, gave skis much better grip on hard snow while still allowing the wood to flex naturally. However, the segments had to be screwed into the ski, and tended to come loose. Worse, edge segments could break in two. In that case, it was difficult or impossible to continue skiing. Skiers usually carried spare edge segments, along with a screwdriver, screws and glue, to make field repairs.
1928: Swiss ski racer Guido Reuge invents the Kandahar binding, using a spring-loaded cable to hold the heel down for alpine skiing.
1928: Solid aluminum ski prototyped in France.
1932: The first successful three-layer laminated skis were invented by Bjørn Ullevoldsaeter in Norway and independently by George Aaland in Seattle. Because they were made with really waterproof casein glues, the skis did not delaminate easily and lasted much longer. When it was found that skis with vertically laminated cores proved lighter, livelier, and stronger, sales took off. The first of these skis were marketed under the Splitkein (“split-cane”) label in Norway and as Anderson & Thompson skis in the U.S.
1934: Limited production of solid aluminum ski by Joseph Vicky in France.
1936: Aluminum ski poles reach mass production in Saint-Ouen, France.
1937: R.E.D. Clark of Cambridge, England, developed the formaldehyde-based adhesive Aerolite to hold airplanes together– for instance, it was used in the all-wood deHavilland Mosquito bomber. Aerolite phenol glue is still manufactured by Ciba-Geigy. In 1941 he created Redux, used to bond aluminum and other impervious metals.
1944: Cellulix, the first cellulose plastic bottom, made to go on Dynamic skis in France.
1945: The Vought-Sikorsky aircraft company used Redux glue to create Metalite, a sandwich of aluminum with a plywood core, for use in airplane skins. Three Chance-Vought engineers, Wayne Pierce, David Richey and Arthur Hunt, used the process to build an aluminum-laminate ski with a wood core. A thousand pairs of the Truflex ski were made but when aircraft production picked up, the company dropped the project and did not release the patent. It was the first mass-produced aluminum ski. It was more easily flexed than a wood ski, less easily broken, scarred or damaged. It did not warp with use.
1946: The Gomme ski was produced by furniture-maker Donald Gomme in England. A laminated wood core was sandwiched between two top plastic layers and a bottom metal layer, with a wood veneer sole to hold wax. It was the first ski to use three different layered materials. Gomme-equipped racers failed to impress the world at the 1948 Olympics and Gomme returned to making furniture.
1947: Pierce, Richey and Hunt founded TEY Manufacturing to produce the aluminum Alu 60, a hollow aluminum ski consisting of nested hat-section channels on top and a flat aluminum plate on the bottom, all bonded together using Redux adhesive. It had drawbacks: The aluminum base stuck to soft snow and did not hold wax well, and the ski was essentially an undamped spring. The aluminum edges of the bottom plate wore out quickly. It was renamed Aluflex in 1948, its second year of production, and TEY shipped 12,000 pairs. But the undamped ski was nearly unskiable on hard snow, and the patent was sold to Johnny See-saw. TEY instead developed the first snowmaking gun, an immediate commercial success. In 1955, the Aluflex patent was duplicated in Switzerland by Sikorsky engineer Serge Gagarin (TEY's sales agent) and assigned to Attenhofer; the ski was manufactured by Charles Dieupart in France. Eventually, with the addition of a wood core, the design evolved to become the Dynastar MV2.
1947: Howard Head, another aircraft engineer, created an aluminum sandwich ski with a lightweight plasticized-paper honeycomb core. The aluminum bottom had no steel edges. The ski was too light to track well, and broke easily when flexed. However, it worked well in powder and served as a prototype for the later successful Heads.
1948: TEY Tape, a self-adhesive cellulose plastic running surface, is invented by the TEY trio. It would adhere to either metal or wood skis. TEY tape did not stick to most snow and it could hold wax. It was sold as part of the Aluflex and also offered through ski shops for application to any ski. Disadvantage: TEY Tape was soft, and relatively easily ripped.
1948: Chris Hoerle of Torrington, Connecticut, created the stainless steel Chris ski, the first ski with a continuous, low-drag, integral steel edge. This edge was quickly adopted by Head. The Chris ski usually had a TEY tape base. Hoerle made about 200 pairs but the ski was never brought to market.
1949: Howard Head’s plywood-core, pressure-bonded aluminum Head Standard with continuous integral steel edge began its journey toward becoming the most commercially successful early metal ski. It had a plywood core glued under pressure and heat between top and bottom aluminum sheets with plastic sidewalls. The bottom sheet had a continuous full length steel edge. It was the first successful ski made of very different components. The secret to success was Bostik, a flexible contact cement that allowed the different layers to shear against each other without weakening. Head skis, along with competitors and imitators, supplanted at least half the wood skis by 1960.
1952: The first fiberglass-reinforced plastic ski, the Bud Phillips Ski, was not satisfactory enough to endure. The same applies to both the Holley Ski, created by Dan Holley of Detroit, and the Dynaglass ski by Dale Boison, both introduced in 1955. But these early attempts spread the idea of the possibility of a ski with more liveliness and less vibration than could be achieved with an aluminum ski. Designers saw that a fiberglass ski might be lighter and easier to turn than the best metal skis.
1954: The first polyethylene base is introduced in Austria by Kofler. Kofix proves slippery enough in most snow conditions to eliminate the need for wax. It is easy to repair minor scratches and gouges by melting more polyethylene into it. A similar material made by InterMontana in Switzerland is marketed under the brand name P-tex. Polyethylene is widely adopted by ski factories, and supplanted earlier plastic bases like Cellulix. With the addition of a polyethylene base, Howard Head introduces the final version of the Head Standard ski.
1954: Emile Allais, the pre-war world alpine champion, returns from five years working in North and South America, carrying several pairs of Head skis. He convinces Laurent Boix-Vives, new owner of Rossignol, to build the aluminum Metallais and Allais 60 aluminum skis, which revolutionize downhill racing beginning in 1959.
1959: The first successful plastic fiberglass ski was invented by Fred Langendorf and Art Molnar, in Montreal, and marketed under the Toni Sailer label. From then on, the concept spread rapidly. By 1968, fiberglass had supplanted both wood and aluminum for use in slalom racing skis and in most recreational skis. Aluminum laminates remained important for all high-speed skis (GS and downhill). Aluminum/fiberglass compound skis proved popular for recreational cruising and for use in deep powder.
1970: First fiberglass cross country skis introduced by John Lovett of Boulder, Colorado.
1970s: Steady improvement in plastic materials. Prepreg fiberglass construction proves efficient but very expensive. S-glass supplants E-glass in wet lay-ups. Manufacturers mix small quantities of Kevlar, carbon fiber, ceramic fiber and other high-strength materials into fiberglass to help improve strength, resilience, damping, torsion – or simply to improve marketing buzz. Sintered polyethylene begins to supplant extruded polyethylene as a tough, wax-retentive, high-speed base material.
1989: Volant skis, the first commercially manufactured steel ski, introduced by Bucky Kashiwa. The factory fails in 2001 due to high labor costs and production is moved to Austria. Some of the Volant production equipment is bought by David Goode, who uses it to produce a ski made largely of carbon fiber.
1990: Elan and Kneissl build prototypes of deep-sidecut “shaped” skis, escaping from the classic Telemark geometry toward a generation of easy-carving skis. Also see https://skiinghistory.org/history/evolution-ski-shape
Category:
Ski Equipment
Timeline

The Rich History of Rope Tows, Tramways and Ski Lifts on Mt. Spokane
The first rope tow was invented in 1908 in Germany’s Black Forest by Robert Winterhalder. It wasn’t until 1933 that Alec Foster installed the first rope tow in North America at Shawbridge near Montreal. In 1934 Bob and Betty Royce built their version at Woodstock, Vermont. Back then they were called Ski-Ways and were powered by Ford Model A engines and used the rear wheels and large pulleys to move the rope. Within five years there were 100 rope tows in North America.
Remember that before these innovations one had to walk up the hills in order to ski down. They didn’t have climbing ropes tied beneath the boots on the skis or mohair skins. Soon nylon ski skins allowed skiers to climb steep slopes, then be peeled off the skis for the descents.
In the 1930s the Selkirk Ski Club, the Spokane Ski Club and the Spokane Mountaineers purchased over 500 acres on Mt. Spokane and constructed rope tows and ski jumps. They later donated this land and operations to Mount Spokane State Park.

Mt. Spokane back in the day. Photo courtesy of Leo’s Studios.
The first single-chair chairlift operated in America appeared at Sun Valley in 1936. In 1946 the Riblet Tramway Company installed an old mining ore tramway on Mt. Spokane. This was the world’s first double chairlift. The tramway chair handled an hourly capacity of 550 skiers. However, it only operated for three years. It was located due south of the current radio towers on the summit of Mt. Spokane. Because of the westerly winds, the tramway was often caked in rime ice.
In 1948 the Spokane Mountaineers began construction of a 600-foot rope tow on the club’s 40 acres on Mt. Spokane. By 1950 the new chalet was completed, and in 1962 the Ryker Rope Tow was lengthened to 1,100 feet.
It wasn’t until 1955 that lodge #1 and chair #1 were constructed and 1961 when lodge #2 and chair #2 were built.
For more information on Mt. Spokane’s history, pick up a copy of The Friends of Mount Spokane’s book “Mount Spokane State Park: A Users Guide,” compiled and written by Cris Currie and other members of the group. //

MOUNT SPOKANE SKI HISTORY

OLD MT. SPOKANE CHAIRLIFT
The first rope tow was invented in 1908 in the Black Forest of Germany by Robert Winterhalder. It wasn't until 1933 that Alec Foster installed the first rope tow in North America at Shawbridge near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 1934 Bob and Betty Royce built their version at Woodstock, Vermont. Back then they were called Ski-Ways, and were powered by Ford Model A engines and used the rear wheels and large pulleys to move the rope. Within five years there were 100 rope tows in North America.
Remember that before these innovations one had to walk up the hills in order to ski down. They didn't have climbing ropes tied beneath the boots on the skis or mohair skins. Soon nylon ski skins allowed skiers to climb steep slopes, then be peeled off the skis for the descents.
In the 1930's the Selkirk Ski Club, the Spokane Ski Club and the Spokane Mountaineers purchased over 500 acres on Mt. Spokane and constructed rope tows and ski jumps. They donated this land and operations to Mt. Spokane State Park.
The first single chair chairlift operated in America appeared at Sun Valley in 1936.
In 1946 the Riblet Tramway Corporation installed an old mining ore tramway on Mt. Spokane. This was the world's first double chairlift. The tramway chair handled an hourly capacity of 550 skiers. However, it only operated for three years.
It was located due south of the current radio towers on the summit of Mt. Spokane. Because of the westerly winds the tramway was often caked in rim ice.
In 1948 the Spokane Mountaineers began construction of a 600' rope tow on their 40 acres on Mt. Spokane. By 1950 the new chalet was completed, and in 1962 the Ryker Rope Tow was lengthened to 1100'.
It wasn't until 1955 that lodge #1 and chair #1 were constructed, and 1961 when lodge #2 and chair #2 was constructed
For more information on Mt. Spokane's history, pick up a copy of The Friends of Mt. Spokane's, "Mt. Spokane State Park: A Users Guide" compiled and written by Cris Currie.

The first ski tow was invented 1908 in the Black Forest, Germany by Robert Winterhalder. The first one in North America was apparently installed in 1933 by Alec Foster at Shawbridge in the Laurentians outside Montreal, Quebec.
It was quickly copied at Woodstock, Vermont in New England in 1934 by Bob and Betty Royce, proprietors of the White Cupboard Inn. Their tow was driven by the rear wheel of a Ford Model A. Wallace "Bunny" Bertram took it over for the second season, improved the operation, renamed it from Ski-Way to Ski Tow,[3] and eventually moved it to what became the eastern fringe of Vermont's major southern ski areas, a regional resort still operating today as Suicide Six. Their relative simplicity—a car engine, some rope and a few pulleys were all that was needed—made ski tows widespread and contributed to an explosion of the sport in the United States and Europe. Before tows, only people willing to walk uphill could ski. Suddenly, relatively unathletic people could participate, greatly increasing the appeal of the sport. Within five years, more than 100 tow ropes were operating in North America.[4]
Brief History of Mt. Spokane State Park

19th Century Long before Mt. Spokane State Park became a haven for winter and summer recreation, Native Americans considered the summit of Mt. Spokane an ideal site for spiritual pilgrimages.
1909-1912 Frances Cook, owner of the summit, builds a toll road and a cabin within 3/4 mile of the summit.
1927 Mt. Spokane State Park is officially dedicated at 1500 acres.
1929 H. Cowles, Jr. donates 640 acres of land to the park.
1930s The Spokane Ski Club, the Selkirk Ski Club, and the Spokane Mountaineers purchase over 500 acres on the mountain for construction of lodges,
rope-tows, and ski jump hills. The road is completed to the summit.
1933 Vista House is built by E.O Fieldstad, a local contractor. Caretaker’s cabin (which came to be known as Cook’s Cabin) is also built.
1934 Civilian Conservation Corps sets up camp for 200 young unemployed men on Beauty Mtn. to improve the roads and construct other facilities.
1939 The Spokane Chapter of the Conservation League buys 320 acres for the
Park for $1500 (south half of Section 21) to save virgin timber from logging and fire.
1940 The Grand Lodge is completed near Cook’s Cabin but burned to the ground just before an addition was finished in 1952.
1946 The first double chair lift in the world is put into operation on the south face of the summit for 3 seasons.
1952 A master plan is proposed for the park which includes over 24,000 acres and designates all of Mt. Spokane proper for downhill ski purposes.
This proposal is not implemented.
1953 KXLY-TV becomes operational from the summit.
1955 Lodge #1 and Chairlift #1 are constructed.
1961 Concessionaire A.E.Mettler constructs Lodge #2 and Lift #2
1965 Another master plan is developed by State Parks to include 11,592 acres of land, 958 of which were allocated for general outdoor recreation with the remainder to be administered as a “natural environment area.” This plan is not adopted by the Parks Commission.
1974 Mt. Spokane Park’s official classification is changed from Recreation area to State Park, and the following philosophy is applied: “State Parks are to continuously service man’s spiritual, mental, and leisure time physical needs through the use of selected outstanding natural resources. this is to be accomplished by providing a full range of non-urban outdoor educational and recreational services and opportunities to a wide range of users with diversified interests and needs.”
1978 A Coordinated Trail System plan is developed to, among other things, reduce conflicting recreational uses by specific allocation of park lands to user groups. The plan quickly became out of date and was never fully implemented.
1985 The Parks Commission formally designates the Ragged Ridge Natural Area within Mt. Spokane State Park.
1993 The Park contains about 13,643 acres of land, not including Quartz Mountain. Most of this land was donated or obtained during the Great Depression through property forfeitures. The Mt. Spokane State Park Alpine Ski Area Working Group Interface Subcommittee issues a report concerning the future of the Park. Among other things, it recommends a comprehensive planning process.
1994 State Parks proposes to classify areas of the Park as Natural Forest Areas. Several alternatives are proposed. The Mt. Spokane Planning Task Force Steering Committee is formed and issues its report. The group recommends a comprehensive planning process as well as the formation of a permanent, local Park advisory committee.
1995 Mt. Spokane State Park Advisory Committee appointed by Parks Commission begins monthly meetings in Spokane. Friends of Mt. Spokane State Park also formed.
1997 Mt. Spokane 2000, a non-profit group of local businesses and civic leaders, is approved as the new concessionaire for the alpine ski area to replace the Mt. Spokane Ski Corporation which operated the area for 20 years.
1999 A Classification and Management Plan (CAMP) process was completed for the Park. New land classifications approved including about 10% as Recreation Area, about 58% as Resource Recreation Area, less than 1% as Heritage Area, about 22% as Natural Forest Area, and about 4% as Natural Area Preserve. About 5% was left unclassified pending completion of an alpine ski area expansion plan and further Commission consideration.
2010 Master Facilities Plan completed.
2013 Nordic ski area expands to over 60 km of groomed trails.
2014 Alpine ski area expansion approved for 1 new chairlift and 7 new runs.

The Quartz Mountain Fire Lookout
Fire Lookout Now Ready for Rent
The Quartz Mountain fire lookout is now available for summer overnight rental! Perched at an elevation of 5,129 feet, the view of the Spokane valley and the North Idaho panhandle is incredible.

The lookout sleeps a maximum of four and has numerous amenities for a very comfortable night’s lodging. If you want to spend a night in the Quartz Mt Lookout this summer, call Central Reservations at 1-888-226-7688. The season usually books out very quickly so be sure to call for your reservation early on March 1.

The 14' X 14' wood frame lookout was originally built on the summit of Mt. Spokane in 1979 by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) using a 40' wood tower. It was actively used for spotting fires until 1994, when it was permanently closed. The lookout represents the end of an era on Mt. Spokane which started in 1934 with the construction of the Vista House and the attached fire lookout at its north end. In 1948, an 85' wood tower lookout was constructed, but it collapsed during its first winter under the heavy snows. A new 45' tower was built in 1950, and then it was replaced in 1963. During its 60 years of service, the Mt. Spokane lookout held the record for more reported wildfires than any of the other 657 fire lookouts in Washington. But the Mt. Spokane structures also had to endure the worst icing conditions of any fire lookout in the state, and eventually the DNR decided it could no longer afford the constant repairs, for what it believed to be an obsolete technology. The lookout was destined for demolition until the Park staff and the Advisory Committee requested that it be given to the Park.

Original lookout courtesy of Rich Landers and the Spokesman-Review
With much Advisory Committee input, it was decided that the lookout would be best utilized as a recreation rental cabin, but that it should be moved to the top of Quartz Mpountain, the rocky summit just to the southeast of Mt. Spokane that was purchased by State Parks in December of 1999. The Committee was convinced that moving the lookout well away from the paved road and busy transmitters on the summit would make for a much higher quality experience. The plan also includes maintaining the ability to use the structure for spotting fires by trained personnel during “red flag” summer conditions. The historic fire finder is being preserved so that it can be reinstalled if needed. But the more remote location also means that renters will need to make the 2.25 mile trek from the Selkirk Lodge under their own power. Since Quartz Mountain is about 700' lower in elevation, and since the lookout is now sitting on only a 10' tower, it is expected that the icing problems will be greatly reduced. It might therefore be possible to eventually utilize the cabin during the winter. Since the DNR had already budgeted funds for its destruction, the agency simply gave the Park the lookout and the budgeted demolition funds to do as it pleased. So in June of 2001, crews scrapped the tower after removing the 9000 pound cabin with a crane, and moved it by truck to a storage area in the Park where it remained until the end of August, 2004.
It took three years to get the permits for the tower construction, prepare a business plan, secure funding, plan the sanitation facilities, and figure out how to move the cabin from the ground near the Park entrance to the top of Quartz. Army Air Guard Chinook helicopters have been used in the past to move lookouts, with varying degrees of success, but the war in Iraq made that option nearly impossible. In October 2003, the Parks Commission committed funds to a total of 100 state park projects (known as 100 Connections) involving nearly every park in the state as part of its Centennial 2013 Vision. Because the Mt. Spokane Friends Group was willing to commit $5000 in matching funds to cover finishing the interior, the lookout project was included as one of these statewide priority projects. The Centennial Vision states that “in 2013, Washington’s state parks will be premier destinations of uncommon quality, including state and regionally significant natural, cultural, historical and recreational resources that are attractive for public experience, health, enjoyment and learning.”

In late August of 2004, a state parks maintenance crew made the old road passable for heavy trucks, poured 4 concrete pillars, erected the tower, and prepared the site for the CXT vault toilet. When the toilet was delivered, it was decided that the same truck with its boom crane would attempt to transport the lookout and lift it to the top of the tower. Two sides of the catwalk and roof were cut off of the cabin and the windows were removed in preparation for its trip up the steep and narrow mountain road. The boom was stretched to its maximum, but the plan worked and the cabin was bolted into place! During the first part of September, the crew worked feverishly, often in inclement weather, to restore the roof, the catwalk and the railing, insulate the ceiling, and build an access stairway.
Once the basic structure was in place, Jim and Linda Frey, the volunteer campground hosts, took the responsibility to complete the reconstruction. Jim is a retired Marine and home builder with many years of construction experience, and he took on the project with gusto. The immediate goal was to get the structure closed in so it would survive the harsh winter conditions. The Freys and a handful of other volunteers (including Bill and Eunice Birk, Cris Currie, Carol Ann Christensen, and Ray Kresek a retired fire spotter, fire fighter and author of “Fire Lookouts of the Northwest”), along with Park staff, were able to complete this task in early October just before the weather turned colder. They pulled out the moldy carpet, cleaned mold off of the walls, hand installed 34 Lexan windows, got an initial coat of paint on the exterior and stain on the catwalk, wrapped the walls in plastic, nailed on the shutters, closed in the stairway, and cleaned up the site. Lightning protection was also installed.
Then in June of 2005, park staff were busy finishing the window moldings and caulking, finishing the ceiling, painting the interior and exterior, installing the laminate wood floor, hanging a door, and purchasing and installing the cabinet, chairs, new screens, propane stove, bunks and other interior furnishings, as well as a plastic 65 gallon tank for storage of cooking and wash water. Commercially bottled spring water is being provided for drinking. There is a picnic table and fire grate nearby with firewood supplied. The fee is $50 per night but a small discount will be in effect for the first season. Reservations and complete details on items not supplied, arrangements for picking up and dropping off the key, directions, and parking are available from the park office. Call the office at (509) 238-4258for more information and reservations.
Then Jim and Linda Frey, the volunteer campground hosts, took the responsibility to complete the reconstruction. Jim is a retired Marine and home builder with many years of construction experience, and he took on the project with gusto. The immediate goal was to get the structure closed in so it would survive the harsh winter conditions. The Freys and a handful of other volunteers (including Ray Kresek a retired fire spotter, fire fighter and author of “Fire Lookouts of the Northwest”), along with Park staff, were able to complete this task just before the weather turned colder. They pulled out the moldy carpet, cleaned mold off of the walls, hand installed 34 Lexan windows, got an initial coat of paint on the exterior and stain on the catwalk, wrapped the walls in plastic, nailed on the shutters, closed in the stairway, and cleaned up the site. Lightning protection was also added.

Jim and Linda Frey, the volunteer campground hosts, took the responsibility to complete the reconstruction.

Friends of Mt Spokane Home

1909
Frances Cook, owner of the summit, builds a toll road to within 3 miles (4.8 km) of the summit.
1927
Mt. Spokane State Park is officially dedicated at 1500 acres (6.1 km²).
1929
H. Cowles, Jr. donates 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land to the park.
1930s
The Spokane Ski Club, the Selkirk Ski Club, and the Spokane Mountaineers purchase over 500 acres (2 km²) on the mountain for construction of lodges, rope-tows, and ski jump hills. The road is completed to the summit.
1932
A "monster" sized Sun Globe was erected at the top of the mountain on June 26 by the Spokane Federation of Women's Organizations. Its purpose was to reflect the sun's rays for many miles in a tributes to fatherhood, as well as being a permanent memorial to the people of Spokane as being children of the sun. A dedication ceremony took place and Mrs. J. B. Dodd, the originator of Father's Day, unveiled the globe. As of 2011, the Sun Globe and its base are absent, and it is not known how long it stayed in place.[3][4][5][6]
1934
Vista House is built by the Civilian Conservation Corps crew from Riverside State Park.
1935
CCC sets up camp on Beauty Mountain to improve the road and construct other facilities.
1939
The Spokane Chapter of the Conservation League buys 320 acres (1.3 km²) for the park for $1500 (south half of Section 21) to save virgin timber from logging and fire.
1946
The first double chair lift in the world is put into operation on the south face of the summit.[citation needed]
1952
A master plan is proposed for the park which includes over 24,000 acres (97 km²) and designates all of Mt. Spokane proper for downhill ski purposes. This proposal is not implemented.
1953
KXLY-TV becomes operational from the summit.
1955
Lodge #1 and Chairlift #1 are constructed.
1961
Concessionaire A.E.Mettler constructs Lodge #2 and Lift #2
1965
Another master plan is developed by State Parks to include 11,592 acres (46.9 km²) of land, 958 acres (3.9 km²) of which were allocated for general outdoor recreation with the remainder to be administered as a natural environment area. This plan is not adopted by the Parks Commission.
1974
Mt. Spokane Park’s official classification is changed from recreation area to state park and a new philosophy is applied: State Parks are to continuously service man’s spiritual, mental, and leisure time physical needs through the use of selected outstanding natural resources. This is to be accomplished by providing a full range of non-urban outdoor educational and recreational services and opportunities to a wide range of users with diversified interests and needs.
1978
A coordinated trail system plan is developed to, among other things, reduce conflicting recreational uses by specific allocation of park lands to user groups. The plan quickly became out of date and was never fully implemented.
1985
The Parks Commission formally designates the Ragged Ridge Natural Area within Mt. Spokane State Park.
1993
The Park contains about 13,643 acres (55.2 km²) of land, not including Quartz Mountain. Most of this land was donated or obtained during the Great Depression through property forfeitures. The Mt. Spokane State Park Alpine Ski Area Working Group Interface Subcommittee issues a report concerning the future of the Park. Among other things, it recommends a comprehensive planning process.
1994
State Parks proposes to classify areas of the Park as Natural Forest Areas. Several alternatives are proposed. The Mt. Spokane Planning Task Force Steering Committee is formed and issues its report. The group recommends a comprehensive planning process as well as the formation of a permanent, local Park advisory committee.
1995
Mt. Spokane State Park Advisory Committee appointed by Parks Commission begins monthly meetings in Spokane. Friends of Mt. Spokane State Park also formed.
1997
Mt. Spokane 2000, a non-profit group of local businesses and civic leaders, is approved as the new concessionaire for the alpine ski area to replace the Mt. Spokane Ski Corporation which operated the area for 20 years.
1999
A Classification and Management Plan (CAMP) process is started for the Park. New land classifications approved including about 10% as Recreation Area, about 58% as Resource Recreation Area, less than 1% as Heritage Area, about 22% as Natural Forest Area, about 4% as Natural Area Preserve, and about 5% as yet unclassified pending completion of the Ski Area Plan and further Commission consideration.

The world’s first double chairlift was built in 1946 in the same area as Chair 1. The lift was originally an ore carrier, converted by the Riblet Tramway Company to a double chairlift. You can see the bullwheel from this lift at the loading ramp of Chair 1.

An Old Mountain
The southernmost mountain in the Selkirk Range, Mount Spokane is much older than the Rockies or the Cascades, second-oldest of all land areas in Washington, and was once higher than its present elevation. Millennia of erosion and forces of weathering have worn it to its present height and rounded form. Judging from its shape, the nature of its granites, and the fossil record, the mountain likely had its birth 425 million years ago, and “before that time, the rocks that formed its crest must have lain deeply buried beneath the surface of the sea” (McMacken, unpaged).
Although “few ethnographic or historic sources state specific aboriginal land uses associated with Mount Spokane,” early accounts refer to the hills and mountains north of the Spokane River as “prime berry and game areas” (Luttrell, 4). Spokane tribal member David C. Wynecoop includes Mount Spokane on his map of Spokane territory and says his people hunted and gathered berries on the mountain. There is evidence, too, that Indians may have used it for spiritual quests. Although no stone cairns indicating such use can be found on the mountain today, an 1895 traveler described many such “piles or columns built up as high as chimneys ... ” (Bell, 24) This young woman, accompanying a rancher to round up his horses from summer pasture high on the mountain, also reported that they rode horseback over an Indian trail, “just wide enough for one through dense tangled underbrush on the mountain side” (Bell, 24). Today members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation gather beargrass and other basket-making materials on Mount Spokane, another possible indication of past Indian uses of the mountain.

SPORTS CREEL
"Keeping it creel since 1954"

AVALANCHE AWARENESS

AVALANCHE AWARENESS
The following are a few of the warning signs of unstable snow and possible avalanches:

You see an avalanche happen or see evidence of previous slides.
Cracks form in the snow around your feet or skis.
The ground feels hollow underfoot.
You hear a "whumping" sound as you walk, which indicates that the snow is settling and a slab might release.
Heavy snowfall or rain in the past 24 hours
Significant warming or rapidly increasing temperatures
You see surface patterns on the snow made by the force of strong winds. This could indicate that snow has been transported and deposited in dangerous drifts that could release.

Get Training.

Know the three factors required for an avalanche:
- Slope - Avalanche generally occur on slopes steeper than 30 degrees
- Snowpack - Recent avalanches, shooting cracks, and “whumpfing” are signs of unstable snow.
- Trigger - Sometimes it doesn’t take much to tip the balance; people, new snow, and wind are common triggers.
Determine if you are on or below slopes that can avalanche
Find out if the snow is stable
Get the Advisory: Refer to your local avalanche center for current snowpack conditions!
Get the gear...and learn how to use it! Have these three avalanche safety essentials in your pack. :
- Transceiver: so you can be found if covered by the snow
- Shovel: so you can dig out your partner
- Probe: so you can locate someone who has been covered by the snow

Avalanche survival rates plummet after about 15 minutes for victims who do not die from trauma. Saving your partner is up to you! Practicing realistic scenarios beforehand is essential.

ANCHORS
TREES, BUSHES OR ROCKS PROTRUDING THOUGH THE SLAB THAT MAY HELP HOLD IT IN PLACE.
DISTRIBUTION:
Anchors need to be thick enough to be effective. The more thickly spaced, the more effective. Sparse anchors, especially combined with a soft slab, have very little effect.

SNOWPACK PENETRATION:
Anchors that don’t stick up through the weak-layer have no effect. They need penetrate to well into the slab.

ANCHOR QUALITY:
Spruce and fir trees with branches frozen into the slab are a much more effective anchor than a tree with few low branches such as an aspen or lodgepole pine. Also, snow falling off of trees tend to stabilize the snowpack around trees.

SLAB TYPE:
Anchors hold hard slabs in place much better than soft slabs–like the difference between cardboard and tissue paper when affixing them to a bulletin board with a thumbtack.

STRESS CONCENTRATION POINTS:
Avalanche fracture lines tend to run from anchor to anchor because they are stress concentration points. In other words, you stand a better chance of staying on the good side of a fracture line by standing above a tree instead of below.

ASPECT
THE COMPASS DIRECTION A SLOPE FACES (I.E. NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, OR WEST.)
Slope Aspect with respect to the sun:
The direction a slope faces with respect to the sun (aspect) has a profound influence on the snowpack. It often takes several years of experience in avalanche terrain before most people appreciate the importance of aspect. If you don’t know your north from south, then you had better learn, because someone who doesn’t know the aspect has missed one of the most important pieces of the avalanche puzzle. Buy a compass. Use it often and work on developing an intuitive feel for slope aspect. No excuses on this one.

The influence of aspect with respect to the sun is most important at mid latitudes, say from about 30 degrees to around 55 degrees–from about the southern U.S. border to about the northern British Columbia border. At equatorial latitudes, the sun goes almost straight overhead, which shines equally on all slopes. At arctic latitudes, in the winter, the sun is too low on the horizon to provide much heat and when it finally gets high enough in the spring and summer, it just goes around in a big circle anyway, shining on all the aspects with nearly the same intensity. Thus, in the arctic spring, aspect has some influence but not nearly as significantly as in mid latitudes. Therefore, the importance of aspect is primarily at mid latitudes.

At mid latitudes in the northern hemisphere:
• North facing slopes receive very little heat from the sun in mid winter. Conversely, south facing slopes receive much more heat. Therefore, a north facing slopes will usually develop a dramatically different snowpack than a south facing slope.
• South facing slopes tend to be warmer and often develop thin ice crusts. Because these crusts tend to grow weak layers around them from near-surface faceting, be careful not to assume southerly aspects are safer.
• How about east and west? East facing slopes catch sun only in the morning when temperatures are colder while west facing slopes catch the sun in the warm afternoon. Consequently, east facing slopes are colder than west facing slopes.
• A cold snowpack tends to develop more persistent weak-layers than a warm snowpack A cold snowpack commonly develops notoriously fragile weak-layers such as facets and surface hoar. Largely because of this, the lion’s share of avalanche accidents occurs on north and east facing slopes, partly because that is where we find the best snow and people tend to trigger more avalanches there, but mostly because they exhibit more persistent weak layers.
• In wet snow conditions due to strong sun, it’s just the opposite of a dry snowpack: south and west facing slopes will usually produce more wet avalanches than the more shady slopes.
• During prolonged cloudy or stormy conditions when the sun seldom shines on the snow, there will be very little difference between sunny and shady slopes.
• Remember that in the Southern Hemisphere it’s just the opposite. South facing slopes are colder than north facing ones.

Slope aspect with respect to wind:
It’s extremely important to recognize the aspect of a slope with respect to the predominant wind direction. Slopes that are lee to the wind (i.e., facing away from the wind) can get wind loaded. In addition, cross loading can wind load slopes. See Cross loading and Wind loading for more information

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AVALANCHE
A MASS OF SNOW SLIDING, TUMBLING, OR FLOWING DOWN AN INCLINED SURFACE.
TYPES OF AVALANCHES
Slab Avalanche:
If you’re looking for the killer then this is your man. This is the White Death, the Snowy Torrent, the Big Guy in the White Suit. Dry slab avalanches account for nearly all the avalanche deaths in North America.
A “slab” is a cohesive plate of snow that slides as a unit on the snow underneath. Picture tipping the living room table up on edge and a magazine slides off the table. Now picture you standing in the middle of the magazine. The crack forms up above you and there you are, there’s usually no escape and you’re off for the ride of your life.

The bonds holding a slab in place typically fractures at 350 kilometers per hour (220 miles per hour) and it appears to shatter like a pane of glass. It’s typically about the size of half a football field, usually about 30-80 centimeters (1-3 feet) deep and it typically reaches speeds of 30 km/hr (20 mph) within the first 3 seconds and quickly accelerates to around 130 km/hr (80 mph) after the first, say, 6 seconds. Dry slab avalanches can lie patiently, teetering on the verge of catastrophe, sometimes for days to even months. The weak-layers beneath slabs are also extremely sensitive to the rate at which they are stressed. In other words, the rapid addition of the weight of a person can easily initiate the fracture on a slope that would not have avalanched otherwise. A slope can lay in waiting like a giant boobie trap–just waiting for the right person to come along. The crack often forms well above the victim leaving little room for escape. Does any of this sound dangerous to you?

Loose Snow Avalanche:
Loose snow sliding down a mountainside is called a loose snow avalanche. Small Loose snow avalanches are called “sluffs”.

Loose snow avalanches usually start from a point and fan outward as they descend, and because of this they are also called “point releases.” Very few people are killed by sluffs because they tend to be small and they tend to fracture beneath you as you cross a slope instead of above you as slab avalanches often do. The avalanche culture tends to minimize the danger of sluffs, sometimes calling them “harmless sluffs.” But, of course, this is not always the case. Houses have been completely destroyed by “harmless sluffs,” and if caught in one, it can easily take the victim over cliffs, into crevasses or bury them deeply in a terrain trap such as a gully. Most of the people killed in sluffs are climbers who are caught in naturally-triggered sluffs that descend from above–especially in wet or springtime conditions.
Sluffs can actually be a sign of stability within the deeper snow when new snow sluffs down without triggering deeper slabs.

Icefall Avalanches:
When glaciers flow over a cliff they form the ice equivalent of a waterfall—an icefall. Falling blocks of ice create an avalanche of ice, which often entrain snow below it or triggers slabs. Especially in big mountains, icefall avalanches can be large and travel long distances. Despite this, icefall avalanches kill few people compared to dry slabs that people trigger themselves. Most of the deaths from icefall avalanches occur to climbers in big mountains who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Icefall avalanches occur more or less randomly in time. However, in warmer climates, more ice tends to come down in the heat of the day than at night. Also, on a longer time scale, glaciers tend to surge, meaning that they actually have very slow waves that travel through them that produce a surge of movement for a few days to a month, followed by less movement for several more days or even months. For instance, sometimes an icefall seems very dormant for several months, then suddenly, it produces lots of activity for several days to a month.
But besides these exceptions, icefalls are fairly random–pretty much a roll of the dice when traveling under an icefall. The best way to deal with icefall avalanches, of course, is to avoid traveling on them or beneath them. And when you choose to travel beneath them, do so quickly. At the risk of being too obvious–never camp under icefalls. But sometimes bad weather prevents climbers from seeing icefall hazard when they set up camp, or bad weather forces them to camp in the wrong spot. Many accidents with icefall avalanches happen this way.

Cornice Fall Avalanches:
Cornices are the fatal attraction of the mountains, their beauty matched only by their danger. Cornices are elegant, cantilevered snow structures formed by wind drifting snow onto the downwind side of an obstacle such as a ridgeline. Similar to icefall avalanches, the weight of a falling cornice often triggers an avalanche on the slope below, or the cornice breaks into hundreds of pieces and forms its own avalanche—or both. Be aware that cornice fragments often “fan out” as they travel downhill, traveling more than 30 degrees off of the fall line. Cornices tend to become unstable during storms, especially with wind, or during times of rapid warming or prolonged melting. Each time the wind blows, it extends the cornice outward, thus, the fresh, tender and easily-triggered part of the cornice usually rests precariously near the edge while the hard, more stable section usually forms the root.
Similar to icefall avalanches, cornice fall avalanches don’t kill very many people. And similar to slab avalanches, the ones who get into trouble almost always trigger the avalanche, in this case, by traveling too close to the edge of the cornice. Cornices have a very nasty habit of breaking farther back than you expect. NEVER walk up to the edge of a drop off without first checking it out from a safe place. Many people get killed this way. It’s kind of like standing on the roof of a tall, rickety building and walking out to the edge for a better view. Sometimes the edge is made of concrete but sometimes the edge is made of plywood cantilevered out over nothing but air. It feels solid until, zoom, down you go. Check it out first.
But cornices aren’t all bad. You can use cornices to your advantage by intentionally triggering a cornice to test the stability of the slope below or to intentionally create an avalanche to provide an escape route off of a ridge.

Wet Avalanches:
Most avalanche professionals make a hard separation between wet snow avalanches and dry snow avalanches, because wet and dry avalanches are so different. You forecast for wet and dry avalanches very differently, much of the mechanics are different, they move differently, and it’s only natural for us to think of them as two separate beasts altogether. But really, there’s a continuum between wet and dry avalanches. For instance, there are damp avalanches, and often, large, dry avalanches start out dry and end up wet by the time they get to the bottom because either the energy of the descent heats the snow up or they travel into a region of warmer snow. Like dry snow avalanches, wet avalanches can occur as both sluffs and slabs.

Wet avalanches usually occur when warm air temperatures, sun or rain cause water to percolate through the snowpack and decrease the strength of the snow, or in some cases, change the mechanical properties of the snow. Once initiated, wet snow tends to travel much more slowly than dry snow avalanches–like a thousand concrete trucks dumping their load at once instead of the hovercraft-like movement of a dry avalanche. A typical wet avalanche travels around 15 to 30 km/hr (10 or 20 mph) while a typical dry snow avalanche travels 100 to130 km/hr (60 or 80 mph)–big difference. Wet slides are also harder for a person to trigger than a dry slide. Because of these two facts, wet avalanches don’t account for nearly as many avalanche fatalities as dry snow avalanches. But they’re certainly not insignificant. They still account for a sizeable percentage of avalanche fatalities in maritime climates, especially to climbers. Wet slides can also do quite a bit of damage to property or to forests and often cause significant hazards on highways.

Glide Avalanches:
Glide occurs when the entire snowpack slowly slides as a unit on the ground, similar to a glacier. Don’t mistake glide for the catastrophic release of a slab avalanche that breaks to the ground. Glide is a slow process, that usually occurs over several days. Glide occurs because melt water lubricates the ground and allows the overlying snowpack to slowly “glide” downhill. Usually, they don’t every produce an avalanche but occasionally they release catastrophically as a glide avalanche. So the presence of glide cracks in the snow do not necessarily mean danger. It’s often difficult for a person to trigger a glide avalanche but at the same time it’s not smart to be mucking around on top of them and especially not smart to camp under them.

We tend to find them in wet climates and when they occur in dry climates they do so in spring when water percolated through the snow or sometimes during mid winter thaws.
When do they come down? Like an icefall, they come down randomly in time–when they’re good and ready–not before. You would think that they would come down during the heat of the day or when melt water running along the ground reaches its maximum. But oddly enough, they tend to release just as often with the arrival of cold temperatures following melting as during melting itself. It’s hard to play a trend with glide avalanches. They come down when they’re good and ready and it’s impossible to tell when that is. Just don’t spend much time underneath them.

Slush Avalanches:
An oddity in most of the avalanche world, slush avalanches usually occur in very northern latitudes such as the Brooks Range of Alaska or in northern Norway. They’re unusual because they occur on very gentle slopes compared with other avalanches, typically 5-20 degrees and they rarely occur on slopes steeper than 25 degrees. A typical slush avalanche occurs in impermeable permafrost soil, which allows water to pool up, and occurs during rapid saturation of a thin, weak snowpack. When water saturates the snowpack, it catastrophically looses its strength and the resulting slush often runs long distances on very gentle terrain. Once again, very few people are killed by slush avalanches possibly because so few people live in high latitude permafrost mountains. But they can certainly be dangerous to people camped in the wrong spot or structures built in the wrong locations.

AVALANCHE BEACON (TRANSCEIVER)
AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE WORN ON THE BODY TO AIDE IN QUICKLY FINDING BURIED AVALANCHE VICTIMS. ALSO CALLED AN AVALANCHE BEACON, IT HAS THE ABILITY TO SEND AND RECEIVE A 457KHZ RADIO SIGNAL.
How beacons work:
Beacons are simply electronic devices about the size of a large mobile phone that both transmits and receives an electronic signal. Everyone in the party wears one and each member turns it on when they leave the house or leave the car to head into the backcountry. (Wear them UNDER your jacket to keep the batteries warm and to keep it from being torn off your body during an avalanche.) When turned on, the beacon transmits an electronic “beep” about once per second. Then, if someone is buried, everyone else in the party turns their beacon to receive, and they can hear the signal from the buried victim’s beacon; the signal gets stronger the closer you get. The range of most beacons varies between 40 and 80 meters depending on the brand. And yes, all beacons work on the same international standard frequency.
Caveat: Beacons only work if you practice regularly with them and most people don’t practice enough. As a result, beacon use has not increased survivability rates as much as one would hope. For people who practice regularly, however, beacons have saved many lives and they work very well. In addition, about a quarter of avalanche victims die from hitting trees and rocks on the way down, so beacons can only help the other three quarters who survive the ride before getting buried.

The technology of beacons changes so rapidly that anything we say here would be quickly out of date, so be sure to read the latest reviews of beacons in the magazines and web sites. Talk to the salespeople in the stores and be sure to shop around and play with several different models. There is no “best” beacon on the market, just advantages and disadvantages with each brand and model.
Practice, Practice, Practice
No matter what beacon you buy, the most important step is to practice, practice, practice. Remember that finding a single beacon in a parking lot is far easier than finding multiple buried beacons in a realistic situation, especially when a loved one is under the snow. Many mountain locations now have automated or semi automated beacon trained centers. These allow one to practice both single or multiple victim rescues, solo or as a group. Check with your local Avalanche Forecast Center for a beacon training facility near you.

AVALANCHE CHARACTER (AKA AVALANCHE PROBLEM TYPE)
AVALANCHES HAVE A WIDE VARIETY OF PERSONALITIES. AVALANCHE SPECIALISTS USE NINE DISTINCT ‘CHARACTERS’ OR ‘AVALANCHE PROBLEM TYPES’ TO BETTER DESCRIBE AND COMMUNICATE THE AVALANCHE CONDITIONS.

Dry Loose avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.

Wet Loose avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

Glide Avalanches are the release of the entire snow cover as a result of gliding over the ground. Glide avalanches can be composed of wet, moist, or almost entirely dry snow. They typically occur in very specific paths, where the slope is steep enough and the ground surface is relatively smooth. The are often proceeded by full depth cracks (glide cracks), though the time between the appearance of a crack and an avalanche can vary between seconds and months. Glide avalanches are unlikely to be triggered by a person, are nearly impossible to forecast, and thus pose a hazard that is extremely difficult to manage.

AVALANCHE PATH
A TERRAIN FEATURE WHERE AN AVALANCHE OCCURS. COMPOSED OF A STARTING ZONE, TRACK, AND RUNOUT ZONE.
COMPONENTS OF AN AVALANCHE PATH:

Location of the Avalanche Problem: Specialists develop a graphic representation of the potential distribution of a particular avalanche problem across the topography. In the following example, the diagram indicates that a particular avalanche problem is thought to exist on all high elevation aspects and on north to west-facing mid elevations (colored grey), and that it is less likely to be encountered on other aspects and elevations (colored white).

Likelihood of Triggering an Avalanche: Terms such as ‘unlikely’, ‘likely’, and ‘certain’ are used to define the scale, with the chance of triggering or observing avalanches increasing as we move up the scale. For our purposes, ‘Unlikely’ means that few avalanches could be triggered in avalanche terrain and natural avalanches are not expected.   ‘Certain’ means that humans will be able to trigger avalanches on many slopes, and natural avalanches are expected.
Size of Potential Avalanche(s): Avalanche size is defined by the largest potential avalanche, or expected range of sizes related to the problem in question. Assigned size is a qualitative estimate based on the destructive classification system and requires specialists to estimate the harm avalanches may cause to hypothetical objects located in the avalanche track (AAA 2016, CAA 2014). Under this schema, ‘Small’ avalanches are not large enough to bury humans and are relatively harmless unless they carry people over cliffs or through trees or rocks. Moving up the scale, avalanches become ‘Large’ enough to bury, injure, or kill people. ’Very Large’ avalanches may bury or destroy vehicles or houses, and ‘Historic’ avalanches are massive events capable of altering the landscape.

BED SURFACE
THE SURFACE OVER WHICH A FRACTURE AND SUBSEQUENT AVALANCHE RELEASE OCCURS. CAN BE EITHER THE GROUND OR A SNOW SURFACE.
What makes a bed surface?
You don’t need a bed surface to make an avalanche but it helps. Sometimes avalanches fracture within a thick layer of weak snow and the avalanche creates its own bed surface. Common bed surfaces include:
• Rain Crusts
• Sun Crusts
• Hard, old snow surface
• The Ground

COLLAPSE
WHEN THE FRACTURE OF A LOWER SNOW LAYER CAUSES AN UPPER LAYER TO FALL. ALSO CALLED A WHUMPF, THIS IS AN OBVIOUS SIGN OF INSTABILITY.
Collapsing snow (sometimes mistakenly called “settlement”) is when the snowpack collapses with a loud “whumpf.” (Actually, whumpf has been adopted as a technical term to describe collapsing snow. Sounds funny but it’s a great term.) Whumpfing is the sound of Mother Nature screaming in your ear that the snowpack is unstable and if you got a similar collapse on a slope that was steep enough to slide it wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Collapsing snow occurs when your weight is enough to break the camel’s back and catastrophically collapse a buried weak layer, most commonly faceted snow or surface hoar. Collapsing snow on a flat valley bottom can easily trigger avalanches on steeper slopes above and sometimes collapses can propagate very long distances and trigger avalanches on more distant steep slopes. Not surprisingly, collapsing snow means that the snow is extremely unstable. The weak layer is already holding up the weight of a significant amount of snow and just the wimpy addition of your weight can collapse all the snow in sometimes a very large area and can sometimes propagate long distances. Collapsing snow is an obvious clue (this is repetitive with same phrase used above) that you need to stay off of and out from underneath avalanche terrain.

CONCAVE SLOPE
A TERRAIN FEATURE THAT IS ROUNDED INWARD LIKE THE INSIDE OF A BOWL, I.E. GOES FROM MORE STEEP TO LESS STEEP.
Slope Shape:
Whether a slope is concave, convex, or planar makes some difference in avalanche danger, but usually not a significant difference. Avalanches happen on any steep slope without thick anchors despite the shape of the slope. Slope shape makes more difference on smaller slopes than on larger ones.

Concave Slopes:
On small concave slopes, there is sometimes enough compressive support from the bottom to prevent hard-slabs from releasing but on medium to large slopes, compressive support plays very little role.

CONVEX SLOPE
A TERRAIN FEATURE THAT IS CURVED OR ROUNDED LIKE THE EXTERIOR OF A SPHERE OR CIRCLE, I.E. GOES FROM LESS STEEP TO MORE STEEP. CONVEX SLOPES GENERALLY TEND TO BE LESS SAFE THAN CONCAVE SLOPES, BUT CONCAVE SLOPES CAN ALSO AVALANCHE.
Slope Shape:
Whether a slope is concave, convex, or planar makes some difference in avalanche danger, usually not a significant difference. Avalanches happen on any steep slope without thick anchors despite the shape of the slope. Slope shape makes more difference on smaller slopes than on larger ones.

Convex slopes:
Convex slopes statistically produce more avalanches and more avalanche accidents than other kinds of slopes, partly because they are inherently less stable and partly because they present more safe travel problems than other slopes.
• Convex slopes have less compressive support at the bottom than other slopes, which makes a difference for small avalanche paths, some difference on medium sized avalanche paths but has little effect of large avalanche paths.

CORN SNOW
LARGE-GRAINED, ROUNDED CRYSTALS FORMED FROM REPEATED MELTING AND FREEZING OF THE SNOW.
Under Corn Snow or Melt-Freeze conditions, a crust forms on the surface that will support your weight when frozen, but turns to deep slush during the heat of the day.
In the snowpack, when water percolates through the snowpack it dissolves the bonds between crystals—the more saturated the snow, the more it dissolves the bonds, thus, dramatically decreasing the strength of the snow.

So, why doesn’t all wet snow instantly avalanche? Part of the reason comes from the bonding power – or surface tension – of water itself.
Corn Snow becomes “ripe” when the bonds between the snow grains just start to melt, providing a velvety surface texture perfect for many types of riding. This usually occurs in the morning hours, but the exact timing is aspect dependent. Seasoned corn harvesters know that predicting this timing is an art form honed through experience. If you’re too early, the frozen surface can rattle out your fillings. Worse is arriving too late, after too many bonds have melted and the corn snow has turned into deep, dangerous slush. The slope that may have been perfect an hour ago is now prime for wet snow avalanches.

CORNICE
A MASS OF SNOW DEPOSITED BY THE WIND, OFTEN OVERHANGING, AND USUALLY NEAR A SHARP TERRAIN BREAK SUCH AS A RIDGE. CORNICES CAN BREAK OFF UNEXPECTEDLY AND SHOULD BE APPROACHED WITH CAUTION.

Cornice Fall Avalanches:
Cornices are the fatal attraction of the mountains, their beauty matched only by their danger. Cornices are elegant, cantilevered snow structures formed by wind drifting snow onto the downwind side of an obstacle such as a ridgeline. Similar to icefall avalanches, the weight of a falling cornice often triggers an avalanche on the slope below, or the cornice breaks into hundreds of pieces and forms its own avalanche—or both. Be aware that cornice fragments often “fan out” as they travel downhill, traveling more than 30 degrees off of the fall line. Cornices tend to become unstable during storms, especially with wind, or during times of rapid warming or prolonged melting. Each time the wind blows, it extends the cornice outward, thus, the fresh, tender and easily-triggered part of the cornice usually rests precariously near the edge while the hard, more stable section usually forms the root.
Similar to icefall avalanches, cornice fall avalanches don’t kill very many people. And similar to slab avalanches, the ones who get into trouble almost always trigger the avalanche, in this case, by traveling too close to the edge of the cornice. Cornices have a very nasty habit of breaking farther back than you expect. I have personally had three very close calls with cornices and I can attest that you need to treat them with an extra-large dose of respect. NEVER walk up to the edge of a drop off without first checking it out from a safe place. Many people get killed this way. It’s kind of like standing on the roof of a tall, rickety building and walking out to the edge for a better view. Sometimes the edge is made of concrete but sometimes the edge is made of plywood cantilevered out over nothing but air. It feels solid until, zoom, down you go. Check it out first.
But cornices aren’t all bad. You can use cornices to your advantage by intentionally triggering a cornice to test the stability of the slope below or to intentionally create an avalanche to provide an escape route off of a ridge.

Cornice Tests:
Squeamish folks or lay-people might think cornice tests are dangerous but they have been standard techniques among ski patrollers, helicopter ski guides and especially climbers for decades. Cornices are the “bombs of the backcountry.” First, make sure no one is below you–very important. Next, simply find a cornice that weighs significantly more than a person and knock it down the slope. A cornice the size of a refrigerator or a small car bouncing down a slope provides an excellent stability test. The smaller the cornice, the less effective the test. You can kick the cornice, shovel it or best of all, cut it with a snow saw which mounts on the end of a ski pole. With larger cornices you can use a parachute cord with knots tied in it every foot or so, which acts like teeth on a saw. Throw the cord over the cornice or push it over the edge with an avalanche probe. You can saw off a fairly large cornice in under 5 minutes. It’s best to work with small, fresh cornices and not the large, old and hard ones. You can also trundle heavy rocks down the slope, which work just as well as cornices, but they’re often harder to find. This is also a great way to create a safe descent route during very unstable conditions. In other words, make an avalanche and use the slide path to descend.
Caveat:
It doesn’t take much imagination to see that knocking cornices down avalanche paths can be very dangerous. ALWAYS use a belay rope on slopes with bad consequences and practice your cornice techniques on safe slopes until you get the techniques worked out. Cornices have a nasty habit of breaking farther back than you think they should. Be careful.

COULOIR
A STEEP GULLY IN ALPINE TERRAIN. IN WINTER, A COULOIR IS USUALLY FILLED WITH SNOW BOUND BY ROCKS ON EITHER SIDE.

Couloirs:
Couloirs can help anchor snow to the slope, but create a serious hazard if an avalanche does occur. They also pose numerous challenges for snowpack evaluation and safe ascent and descent. Often the only reasonable route is climbing straight up the couloir, which can expose the entire group to avalanche danger for considerable periods of time. Sometimes couloirs can be approached from the top, but then knowing the snow conditions in the couloir itself becomes exceedingly challenging.

CROSS LOADING
WIND BLOWING ACROSS A SLOPE, DEPOSITING DRIFTS ON THE SIDES OF GULLIES OR OTHER TERRAIN FEATURES.
Cross slope winds typically load gullies and chutes. This may occur at any elevation depending on winds. Higher areas will typically be scoured. Low areas may look smooth or pillowed.

CROWN FACE
THE TOP FRACTURE SURFACE OF A SLAB AVALANCHE. USUALLY SMOOTH, CLEAN CUT, AND ANGLED 90 DEGREES TO THE BED SURFACE.

DEEP SLAB AVALANCHE
AVALANCHES THAT BREAK DEEPLY INTO OLD WEAK LAYERS OF SNOW THAT FORMED SOME TIME AGO.

DENSITY, SNOW
THE MASS OF SNOW PER UNIT VOLUME, BUT OFTEN EXPRESSED AS A PERCENT WATER CONTENT. NEW FALLEN POWDER HAS A LOW DENSITY (3-10%), WHILE HEAVY OR WET SNOW IS MORE DENSE (10-20%).
The stability of the snowpack is influenced by many factors, but two of the most important is the strength of the weak layer and the load it has to support. The weight of the snow resting on a weak layer is a factor of the depth of the slab and its density. Snow density can be thought of in technical terms and numbers (% density, kg/m3) but most people have an intuitive feel for snow density, even if you don’t realize it. Snow that is light and billows up in your face while you’re riding is very low density, while high density snow feels thick, heavy, or even wet.

New snowfall has an initial density, usually in the 3-20% range. Once it accumulates on the old snow surface, metamorphism takes over causing the snow to gradually become more dense. The rate at which new snow becomes densifies depends on temperature, among other things. We all know warm weather can quickly ruin light powder snow, while cold temperatures can slow down the densification process and preserve powder for quite some time.
Another important factor to consider regarding snow density is trends during a storm. If the temperature is warm when the snow starts falling, and then becomes colder, we have what we call a “right side up” storm. The snow is light and fluffy on top and becomes more dense with depth. A far less desirable scenario is called an “upside down” storm and is the result of increasing temperatures during snowfall. The result is heavy, denser snow on top of lighter snow — you can see what we’re getting at can’t you? An upside down storm can result in a slab (dense snow) over a weak layer (less dense snow), providing the necessary ingredients for slab avalanches.

DEPTH HOAR
LARGE-GRAINED, FACETED, CUP-SHAPED CRYSTALS NEAR THE GROUND. DEPTH HOAR FORMS BECAUSE OF LARGE TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS WITHIN THE SNOWPACK.
Depth Hoar–faceted snow near the ground:
Contrary to popular belief, as long as the ground has an insulating blanket of snow, the ground is almost always warm–near freezing–even with very cold air temperatures. Snow is a wonderful insulator and even with very cold air temperatures it’s common for the snow near the ground to remain damp for most of the season. The only exception to this is in permafrost areas (very high elevations at mid latitudes or arctic latitudes) or in areas with a very thin snow cover combined with very cold temperatures.

The top of the snow surface, on the other hand, can become extremely cold–especially when exposed to a clear sky–thus creating one of the most common temperature gradient conditions. Especially in the early winter, cold temperature often combines with a thin snowpack making the perfect breeding conditions for the dreaded faceted snow near the ground, which we call depth hoar.

Depth Hoar Summary:
Looks like:
Sparkly, larger grained, beginning and intermediate facets are square 1-3 mm, advanced facets can be cup-shaped 4-10 mm.
Feels like:
Loose, runs through your fingers, granular, crunchy when chewed.
Also called:
Temperature Gradient (TG) (but this is an outdated term) sugar snow, squares, sometimes incorrectly called “hoar frost” by old, rural geezers.
Formed:
From large temperature gradients between the warm ground and the cold snow surface. Usually requires a thin snowpack combined with a clear sky or cold air temperature. Grows best at snow temperatures from -2 deg C to -15 deg C.
Mechanical Properties:
Behaves like a stack of champagne glasses. Relatively stronger in compression than in shear. Fails both in collapse and in shear. Especially nasty when it forms on a hard bed surface. Commonly propagates long distances, around corners and easily triggered from the bottom–your basic nightmare.
Persistence:
Extremely persistent in the snowpack from several days to several weeks, depending on temperature. The larger the grain, the more persistent. Percolating melt water in spring often re-activates large-grained depth hoar. Depth hoar is guilty until proven innocent.
Distribution Pattern:
At mid latitudes, mainly on shady aspects (NW-NE). In very cold climates, forms on warmer slopes (sun exposed, near fumaroles, non permafrost areas). At arctic and equatorial latitudes, it shows much less preference for aspect.
Regional Differences:
• Continental climates: extremely common throughout the season. Often makes up the entire snowpack until about February.
• Intermountain climates: Common before about January.
• Maritime climates: Rare and usually in the early season.
Forecasting considerations:
Never underestimate the persistence of faceted snow as a weak layer. Makes large and scary avalanches. Carefully measure temperature gradients across the weak layer. Large gradients mean the snow will remain weak, small gradients mean the snow is gaining strength but it takes several days to several weeks depending on temperature.
Routefinding Considerations:
Easily triggered from the bottom of a slope or from an adjacent flat area. Pay attention to what your slope is connected to. Depth hoar avalanches usually triggered from a shallow snowpack area–avoid rocks outcropping in the middle of a slope.

DRY SNOW AVALANCHE
AN AVALANCHE THAT OCCURS IN DRY SNOW AT BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES. DRY SNOW AVALANCHES CAN BE EITHER SLUFFS (LOOSE SNOW) OR SLABS. THE VAST MAJORITY OF AVALANCHE FATALITIES ARE CAUSED BY DRY SLAB AVALANCHES.

FACETED SNOW
ANGULAR SNOW WITH POOR BONDING CREATED FROM LARGE TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS WITHIN THE SNOWPACK.

How faceted snow is formed:
Faceted snow forms from large temperature gradients within the snowpack. Big word alert!–temperature gradient. A temperature gradient is simply how fast temperature changes over a certain distance within the snowpack. Why? Because it’s a fact that warm air holds more water vapor than cold air. This means that temperature gradients also create what we call “vapor pressure gradients”–more water vapor in one place than another. And what happens when you concentrate something–especially a gas? It wants to diffuse–move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. When water vapor RAPIDLY diffuses it changes rounded crystals into faceted ones–changes strong snow into weak snow. In other words, temperature gradients create potential weak layers that can kill us. That’s why we pay so much attention to them.
This is a completely reversible process. Strong gradient turns rounds to facets. Weak gradient turns facets back to rounds. The process in reverse, however, occurs much slowly because it takes so much energy to create a faceted crystal that when we take the energy source away (the strong temperature gradient) it take a lot of time for the crystal to return to its equilibrium state (rounds). In other words, it might take a week or two of a strong temperature gradient to form large faceted crystals but after you take the temperature gradient away, it can take weeks or months for them to stabilize, depending on the ambient temperature of the snow and how much compressive load is on top. In cold climates without much load on top of the faceted snow, it may never gain much strength–even without a temperature gradient. The take-home point here is that: small temperature gradients make the snow stronger; large temperature gradients make the snow weaker. Got that?
So, large temperature gradient—how large is large? For snow of an average snowpack temperature, say around -5 degrees C, the critical temperature gradient is about one degree centigrade per 10 centimeters (1 deg C. / 10 cm.). In cold snow, say colder than -10 deg. C, you need a higher temperature gradient to cause faceting and in warm snow you need slightly less.
For example, let’s stick two thermometers into the snowpit wall, one 10 centimeters above the other (about 4 inches). Say we measure a difference of only 1/2 deg. C. in 10 cm., it means that equilibrium snow is growing (snow is getting stronger). If we measure a temperature difference of 2 deg. C. in 10 cm., it means that faceted snow is growing (snow is getting weaker). All you have to do is to find a faceted layer in the snowpack, measure the gradient and you know whether the layer is gaining strength of loosing strength. Cool, huh? This is actually a powerful forecasting tool.

FRACTURE
FRACTURE IS THE PROCESS OF CRACK PROPAGATION. WHEN FRACTURE OCCURS IN A LAYER OF SNOW UNDERNEATH A SLAB SITTING ON A STEEP SLOPE, A SLAB AVALANCHE WILL OCCUR.
How snow fails and fractures:
Avalanches don’t “strike without warning”, as we so often read in the press. They are only the most spectacularly visible event in a long series of precursors leading up to the grand finale.
It all begins many hours–or even days–before, usually when new snow or wind-blown snow begins to pile weight on top of a buried weak layer. Added weight causes the underlying snow to deform; rapidly added weight causes snow to rapidly deform. On an inclined slope, the deformation tends to concentrate within buried weak layers.
Inside of a weak-layer under stress, we can think of this as a race between bonds being broken and bonds being re-formed. Let’s look at three different rates of deformation, slow, medium, and fast:
Slow deformation rate
If the weak-layer deforms slowly, it either deforms the bonds between the ice grains or more bonds form than break. This means that the weak-layer adjust to its load and actually gains strength. Snow can lazily drape over the terrain like a cat draped over the back of the couch—like a limp rubber band—and if you’ve every tried to cut a limp rubber band with a knife, you know what a stable snowpack is like.
Medium deformation rate
With an increasing rate of deformation, we reach a point where nearly as many crystalline bonds break as form and the strength of the weak layer remains about the same. With sensitive microphones we can actually hear the rupture of individual bonds between the ice grains, like the sound of slowly ripping Velcro.
Rapid deformation rate
If deformation occurs too rapidly–past a critical threshold–then more bonds break than form. The weak-layer inexorably looses strength and begins the slippery slide towards disaster. We call this “failure”–when the snow begins to progressively loose strength. We also call this “strain softening.” To understand failure and strain softening, do this experiment: Take a paper clip and bend it in the same place repeatedly, and after about ten bends you’ll notice that it is getting weaker (failure) and after about 15 bends, it snaps right off (fracture). Got that, the difference between failure and fracture?
Having said this, scientists still don’t know exactly how avalanches fail and fracture because snow is such a devilishly difficult substance to study. First, large variations commonly exist over both distance and time and second, as you can imagine, catching a natural avalanche in the act is stupendously difficult and dangerous.
Failure occurs slowly at perhaps centimeters per hour; whereas, fracture occurs catastrophically and has been measured at anywhere from 20 to more than 100 meters per second. Whamo! The slope shatters like glass.
When a person triggers an avalanche, it means that they have found a trigger point of the avalanche. Perhaps it’s a place where the slab is thinner allowing more of the victim’s weight to affect the weak layer. Perhaps it’s a place where the weak layer is more poorly bonded than the rest of the slope. I don’t think anyone knows for sure. But we do know that snow is very sensitive to the rate at which it is deformed and the extremely rapid deformation caused by the weight of a person is exactly the kind of thump needed to intiate the fracture process.
Without this final trigger, unstable slopes can teeter on the brink of disaster for quite some time, giving us the illusion that all is well. After a storm, we never know how many slopes would come down if they just had a proper trigger.

GLIDE
GLIDE OCCURS WHEN THE ENTIRE SNOWPACK SLOWLY SLIDES AS A UNIT ON THE GROUND. GLIDE AVALANCHES CAN BE COMPOSED OF WET, MOIST, OR ALMOST ENTIRELY DRY SNOW AND POSE A HAZARD THAT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO FORECAST. THEY ARE OFTEN PRECEDED BY GLIDE CRACKS (FULL DEPTH CRACKS IN THE SNOWPACK), THOUGH THE TIME BETWEEN THE APPEARANCE OF A CRACK AND AN AVALANCHE CAN VARY BETWEEN SECONDS AND MONTHS.
Glide avalanches are unlikely to be triggered by a person, and many glide cracks don’t result in avalanches. That said, it’s not smart to muck around on or below visible glide cracks.

GRAUPEL
HEAVILY RIMED NEW SNOW, OFTEN SHAPED LIKE LITTLE STYROFOAM BALLS.
Graupel is that Styrofoam ball type of snow that stings your face when it falls from the sky. It forms from strong convective activity within a storm (upward vertical motion) caused by the passage of a cold front or springtime convective showers. The falling graupel is occasionally accompanied lightning as well.
Graupel looks like a pile of ball bearings. Graupel is a common short-lived weak layer in maritime climates but more rare in continental climates. It’s extra tricky because it tends to roll off cliffs and steeper terrain and collect on the gentler terrain at the bottom of cliffs. Climbers and extreme riders sometimes trigger graupel avalanches after they have descended steep terrain (45-60 degrees) and have finally arrived on the gentler slopes below (35-45 degrees)–just when they are starting to relax. Graupel weak layers commonly stabilize in about a day or two after a storm, depending on temperature.

HARD SLAB AVALANCHE
A SLAB AVALANCHE OF HARD, DENSE SNOW. SLAB DENSITY IN HARD SLABS IS TYPICALLY AT LEAST 300 KG/M3.
Hard slabs are stiff, cohesive slabs, usually deposited by strong wind drifting or the slabs may be old, hardened layers of snow. Think of them like a pane of glass on top of potato chips. The good news is that hard slabs are more difficult to trigger than soft slabs, but the bad news is that they tend to propagate farther and make a much larger and more deadly avalanche. Also, the stiffer the slab, the farther above you the fracture line will usually form, and the harder it will be to escape.
Hard slabs are especially tricky because the stiffness and/or thickness of slabs can vary a lot from place to place, so just because you may not be able to trigger a slab in a thick spot, as soon as you get to the edge of the slab–for instance where it may thin near a ridgeline–you may be able to trigger the whole slope.

ISOTHERMAL
WHEN ALL LAYERS OF THE SNOWPACK ARE AT THE SAME TEMPERATURE, TYPICALLY AT THE FREEZING POINT. OFTEN REFERS TO A SNOWPACK THAT IS WET THROUGHOUT ITS DEPTH.
Condition that occurs in the the spring or after many cycles of melting and freezing.

LAYER, SNOW
A SNOWPACK STRATUM DIFFERENTIATED FROM OTHERS BY WEATHER, METAMORPHISM, OR OTHER PROCESSES.
Snow storms vary, with differences in wind, temperature and other factors, creating a layered snowpack.  With time, snow also settles and or changes, further differentiating the layers. As a result snowpack tends to be formed from a number of layers of varying hardness, strength, and cohesion. It is the relationship between each layer, that forms a basic element of avalanche forecasting.

LEEWARD
THE DOWNWIND SIDE OF AN OBSTACLE SUCH AS A RIDGE.
Wind erodes snow from the windward (upwind) side of an obstacle and deposits snow on the leeward (downwind) side. Deposited snow looks smooth and rounded. You should always beware of recent deposits of wind drifted snow on steep slopes.

LOADING
THE ADDITION OF WEIGHT ON TOP OF A SNOWPACK, USUALLY FROM PRECIPITATION, WIND DRIFTING, OR A PERSON.
Loading from Wind:
As we know, snow does not like rapid changes, especially a rapid increase in weight piled on top of a buried weak layer. By far, the quickest way to load snow onto a slope is from wind drifting. Wind can deposit snow ten times more rapidly than snow falling out of the sky.
Wind erodes snow from the windward (upwind) side of an obstacle and deposits snow on the leeward (downwind) side. Deposited snow looks smooth and rounded. You should always beware of recent deposits of wind drifted snow on steep slopes.

Loading from Snow or Rain:
The second fastest way to load a buried weak layer is through new snow or rain. Rapidly-added weight almost always means rapidly-rising avalanche danger. Remember that more precipitation usually falls at higher elevations than lower elevations and more on the windward sides of mountain ranges than the leeward sides (with the exception of wind drifting near the ridges).

LOOSE SNOW AVALANCHE
AN AVALANCHE THAT RELEASES FROM A POINT AND SPREADS DOWNHILL COLLECTING MORE SNOW – DIFFERENT FROM A SLAB AVALANCHE. ALSO CALLED A POINT-RELEASE OR SLUFF.
Loose snow sliding down a mountainside is called a loose snow avalanche. Small loose snow avalanches are called Sluffs. Loose snow avalanches can be dry or wet.
Loose snow avalanches usually start from a point and fan outward as they descend, and because of this they are also called “point releases.” Very few people are killed by loose snow avalanches because they tend to be small and they tend to fracture below you as you cross a slope instead of above you as slab avalanches often do. The avalanche culture tends to minimize the danger of loose snow avalanches, sometimes calling them “harmless sluffs.” But, of course, this is not always the case. Houses have been completely destroyed by “harmless sluffs,” and if caught in one, it can easily take the victim over cliffs, into crevasses or bury them deeply in a terrain trap such as a gully. Most of the people killed in sluffs are climbers who are caught in naturally-triggered sluffs that descend from above–especially in wet or springtime conditions. Also, wet loose snow slides consist of dense, heavy snow and can sometimes grow to large and destructive sizes.
Sluffs can actually be a sign of stability within the deeper snow when new snow sluffs down without triggering deeper slabs. Sluffs are usually easy to deal with but slabs are definitely not.

METAMORPHISM, SNOW
THE PHYSICAL CHANGE OF SNOW GRAINS WITHIN THE SNOWPACK DUE TO DIFFERENCES IN TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE.
From the instant snow hits the ground, it begins an endless process of metamorphism. Few things in nature undergo such dramatic and rapid changes because water is the only naturally occurring substance that exists near its “triple point”, meaning that solid, liquid and vapor phases all exist at the same time. In other words, small and subtle changes in temperature, pressure, humidity and temperature gradient can have a dramatic effect on the type of snow crystal that forms. This makes snow one of the most complex and changeable substances on Earth. Here is a condensed list of the most common types:
TYPE
ALSO CALLED
LOOKS LIKE
WHERE FOUND
HOW IT’S FORMED

New snow
Powder, rime, graupel, etc.
No two are alike
On the snow surface
Falls from the sky

Rounded snow
Equilibrium snow
Old Snow
Fine-grained, chalky
Old layers of snow
Low temperature gradient conditions (typically less than 1 deg C per 10 cm)

Faceted Snow
Sugar Snow
Kinetic Snow
Depth Hoar (when near the ground)
Sparkly, large-grained
Anywhere in the snowpack
Large temperature gradient conditions within the snowpack (typically more than 1 deg C per 10 cm)

Surface Hoar
Frost,
Feathers
Sparkly, large-grained
On the snow surface or buried by more recent layers
Winter equivalent of dew on the snow surface

Melt-Freeze Snow
Corn snow
Spring snow
Wet snow
Corn snow
Spring snow
Wet snow
Snow surface or buried by more recent layers
Repeated melting and freezing of the snowpack

PERSISTENT WEAK LAYERS
WEAK LAYERS THAT CONTINUE TO PRODUCE AVALANCHES FOR SEVERAL DAYS OR WEEKS AFTER A STORM.
Certain weak layers tend to stabilize quickly after a storm while other kinds of weak layers take much longer to stabilize. The three most notorious persistent weak layer include: faceted snow, depth hoar and surface hoar. As you can imagine, persistent weak layers cause most avalanche accidents because the avalanche danger can linger several days after a storm, just waiting for a trigger.
The presence of a persistent weak layer, alone, doesn’t necessarily mean danger. But If a buried, persistent weak layer also produces unstable test results or has caused recent avalanche activity, you should definitely avoid avalanche terrain where those conditions exist.

POINT-RELEASE
POINT RELEASE – LOOSE SNOW AVALANCHES – SLUFFS:
Loose snow sliding down a mountainside is called a loose snow avalanche. Small loose snow avalanches are called Sluffs.
Loose snow avalanches usually start from a point and fan outward as they descend, and because of this they are also called “point releases.” Very few people are killed by loose snow avalanches because they tend to be small and they tend to fracture beneath you as you cross a slope instead of above you as slab avalanches often do. The avalanche culture tends to minimize the danger of loose snow avalanches, sometimes calling them “harmless sluffs.” But, of course, this is not always the case. Houses have been completely destroyed by “harmless sluffs,” and if caught in one, it can easily take the victim over cliffs, into crevasses or bury them deeply in a terrain trap such as a gully. Most of the people killed in sluffs are climbers who are caught in naturally-triggered sluffs that descend from above–especially in wet or springtime conditions.
Sluffs can actually be a sign of stability within the deeper snow when new snow sluffs down without triggering deeper slabs. Sluffs are usually easy to deal with but slabs are definitely not.

PROBE
A METAL ROD USED TO PROBE THROUGH AVALANCHE DEBRIS FOR BURIED VICTIMS.
Avalanche probes are a must for the backcountry. They can knock precious minutes off rescue times in an avalanche situation. Collapsible probes assemble quickly, they’re longer and they slide through the snow much more easily than ski pole probes. Finally they are very lightweight and compact in your backpack. You will first search for a buried victim with your avalanche beacon, but as you get close to the victim, a probe will help you pinpoint their location, making it possible to dig right to them.

PROPAGATION
THE SPONTANEOUS SPREADING OF A CRACK WITHIN THE SNOWPACK, WITHOUT THE ADDITION OF ANY EXTERNAL FORCE. SLAB AVALANCHES OCCUR WHEN A CRACK PROPAGATES THROUGH A LAYER OF SNOW UNDERNEATH A SLAB SITTING ON A STEEP SLOPE.
Propagation is the spread of a crack in a weak layer from an initial location. A crack can propagate extremely rapidly, making it possible for huge slabs of snow to seemingly release from a mountainside instantaneously. The propagation potential of a particular slab and weak layer dictates how large an avalanche may become once triggered, and also determines if it’s possible to trigger avalanches from flatter terrain connected to steeper slopes.
Whether a localized crack propagates or not, or how far the propagation will proceed, depends on a complex interaction of many different snowpack properties. Further complicating this interaction is the everchanging nature of snow.
For instance, if a skilled avalanche worker digs several snow profiles on a test slope and finds easy compression tests and propagating extended column tests, high quality shears, a persistent weak layer with a critical combination grain type, grain size and hardness differences between the slab and the weak layer, plus they find those same conditions in several snow profiles on the same slope, they can safely conclude that the snowpack can both initiate and propagate a crack. In other words, avoid all similar slopes steep enough to slide.

RAIN CRUST
A CLEAR LAYER OF ICE FORMED WHEN RAIN FALLS ON THE SNOW SURFACE THEN FREEZES.
Rain crusts tend to be much smoother than sun crusts. Unlike sun crusts, rain crusts form uniformly on all aspects but rain crusts–like rain–is highly elevation dependent. Typically rain falls at lower elevations and as you ascend through the freezing level the rain progressively turns to snow.

REMOTE TRIGGER
WHEN AN AVALANCHE RELEASES SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE TRIGGER POINT.
Someone does not need to be on the avalanche to trigger the avalanche. Especially in a snowpack with high propagation potential, a person can initiate a fracture from some distance away. We call these “remote” triggers. It’s common to remotely trigger an avalanche from the ridge above a slope, a gentler slope next to the avalanche and especially from a flat or gentle area below the avalanche. Needless to say, if you remotely-trigger an avalanche, the snowpack is extremely unstable and you need to choose your routes very carefully.
INSTABILITY
NATURAL AVALANCHES
HUMAN TRIGGERED AVALANCHES
EXPLOSIVE AND CORNICE-TRIGGERED AVALANCHES

RIME
SUPERCOOLED WATER DROPLETS THAT FREEZE TO OBJECTS IN EXPOSED TERRAIN, FORMING ICY DEPOSITS ON THE WINDWARD SIDE. RIME CAN ALSO FORM ON SNOWFLAKES AS THEY FALL THROUGH THE SKY, GIVING THEM A FUZZY APPEARENCE.

Rime:
Rime is that crunchy, rough snow that looks like popcorn or styrofoam that you notice plastered onto trees on windy mountaintops (making “snow ghosts”). Rime forms on the surface of the snow when super-cooled water in clouds freezes onto the snow surface, trees, chairlift towers or any solid surface. When the super-cooled droplets touch something solid, they instantly freeze; thus the spikes grow INTO the wind (as opposed to wind loading in which drifts form on the downwind side).

SASTRUGI
WIND ERODED SNOW, WHICH OFTEN LOOKS ROUGH LIKE FROZEN WAVES. USUALLY FOUND ON WINDWARD SLOPES.
Wind erodes from the windward side of an obstacle and deposits on the lee side. We call the eroded snow sastrugi. You can recognize it by its rough, sand-blasted texture. We usually think of wind eroded snow as being stable because stress on buried weak layers has been decreased by wind eroding the overlying snow. Conversely, wind will deposit that same snow on to the lee slopes, which increases weight on buried weak layers.
Sastrugi is not always stable snow. Remember you only see the surface texture. Perhaps the wind only eroded an insignificant amount of snow and a buried weak layer still lingers below just waiting for a trigger. As usual, all slopes are guilty until proven innocent by the usual battery of snow stability tests

SETTLEMENT
THE SLOW, DEFORMATION AND DENSIFICATION OF SNOW UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GRAVITY. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH COLLASPING.
A newborn, snowflake that falls out of the sky doesn’t stay that way for long. As soon as it lands on the snow surface it begins a rapid process of change. Just like people, as a snowflake ages, its beautiful, angular shape becomes progressively more rounded through time and it forms bonds with its neighbors. In people, it’s called growing up; in the snowpack it’s called “sintering”–forming bonds with neighboring crystals to create the fabric of the snowpack.
As sintering progresses, the snow becomes denser and stronger, which we call “settlement.” Sometimes you will hear people incorrectly use the term settlement to describe the catastrophic collapse of a snowpack that often makes a giant “whumpf” sound, as in, “Hey, did you hear that settlement? Maybe we should get out of here.” Instead, we call these collapses or “whumpfing”, which, believe it or not, is actually the technical term for a collapsing snowpack. It sounds funny but it’s a great description. Settlement is the SLOW deformation of the snow as it densifies and sags under the influence of gravity.
New, fluffy snow settles relatively quickly, within minutes to hours and it settles much more quickly at warm temperatures than in cold temperatures. We often think of settlement within the new snow as a sign of stability (at least within the new snow) because it means that the new snow is rapidly becoming stronger. When new snow settles, it forms “settlement cones” around trees and bushes where the snow bonds to the bush which props up the snow, like a circus tent.

SKI OR SLOPE CUT
A TEST WHERE A RIDER RAPIDLY CROSSES A SLOPE TO SEE IF AN AVALANCHE INITIATES. THIS TECHNIQUE IS GENERALLY USED BY PROFESSIONAL AVALANCHE MITIGATION TEAMS. TRAINING, EXPERIENCE, AND JUDGEMENT ARE NECESSARY TO EMPLOY BACKCOUNTRY SLOPE CUTS SAFELY.
Slope Cut Caveats

They work well on thin, soft slabs. They do not work well on deeper, or harder slabs (and should not be used!).
They can be dangerous and should only be performed on very small avalanche paths or test slopes. Test slopes are small, steep slopes that have minimal consequence to you or anyone below you if they avalanche.

SLAB
A RELATIVELY COHESIVE SNOWPACK LAYER.

What makes a slab?
When stronger snow overlies weaker snow, we call it a slab. Or as Karl Birkeland puts it, “A slab is when you have something sitting on top of nothing.” A slab can occur anywhere in the snowpack but avalanche professionals usually think of a slab as the layer that slides off the slope to create the avalanche.

SNOWPIT
A PIT DUG VERTICALLY INTO THE SNOWPACK WHERE SNOW LAYERING IS OBSERVED AND STABILITY TESTS MAY BE PERFORMED. ALSO CALLED A SNOW PROFILE.

Snowpit tests:
Some of the time we can gather enough information about the snowpack without ever taking out the dreaded shovel. But often the only way to get good information is to dig. At least one snowpit in a representative location helps to at least get the general picture of what’s going on in the snowpack.
How to dig a snowpit:
Contrary to popular belief, snowpits don’t have to take a lot of time. My philosophy is that if your feet get cold, you’re doing something wrong; I almost never spend more than 10 minutes in a snowpit. Since snow can sometimes vary quite a bit from place to place, I would much rather dig several quick pits and average the results than to spend 30 minutes in one pit documenting every useless detail. We’re trying to get a GENERAL, BIG PICTURE idea of what’s going on here. Then move on to another location. Often I dig the hole without even taking off my skis or board, but it usually helps to at least take off the uphill ski or take one foot out of the board binding.
First, the shoveling: Get down on one knee when you shovel. Your back will thank you, and especially if you grew up Catholic, like me, it somehow feels appropriate to get on your knees when asking for answers from the unknown. Make the hole wide–about the width of a ski length. And don’t dig a vertical hole, like you’re going to China, shovel out the downhill side so you have room to work, which actually takes less time in the long run. Just slide the chunks of snow downhill on your shovel without lifting it. This only takes a couple minutes if you’re on a steep slope and in soft snow.
Then get your tools ready. Get out the snow saw. If you don’t have one, than go buy one. You can get by without one but you will hate life and hate snowpits and you will quickly quit digging them. Not a good idea. If you’re a skier, get a snow saw that fits on the end of a ski pole.
After digging the snow pit (which gives you a lot of information in itself) I like to just dive in and FEEL with my hands. Some people like to use a little whisk broom and gently brush the wall, but don’t listen to them. Run your mittens horizontally across the face of the snowpit wall and get a nice tactile feel for the different layers. Just like an eroded rock outcropping, notice how the weak layers crumble away while the strong layers remain sticking out. Then stand back and SEE the layers too. Dive in and get your hands dirty. Remember that this is not just an academic exercise. This is your life we’re talking about here. Just looking and thinking don’t work. Crawl around, shove your arms into the weak layers. Feel it, see it, chew on it, smell it–live it. Use as many pathways as possible–BE the snowpack, as they say.
Then dust yourself off (if you’re not getting snow on you, you’re doing something wrong) and carefully smooth the snowpit wall in preparation for the various stress tests you will perform. Make sure it’s smooth and vertical. This is very important. Remember, garbage in–garbage out. But good tests will give good answers. Whatever tests you do, they must be done exactly the same each time, so that one can compare one snowpack to another.
How deep to dig a snowpit:
Since it’s difficult for humans to trigger avalanches more than about 1.5 meters (5 feet) thick, (unless they are triggered from a shallower spot) I seldom dig snowpits deeper unless I specifically know there’s a deeper weak-layer that may cause problems. If you already know that the deep layers have no worries, then just concentrate on the shallow snow. Each situation is a little different and in time you will get a feel for it. But in general, keep your snowpits less than 1.5 to 2 meters deep unless you know of a good reason to go deeper.
Where to dig a snowpit:
Where to dig a snowpit is probably more important than how to dig one. Choosing a representative location is an art, and art is difficult to describe.
Dig it on a slope most representative of the slope you are interested in but without putting yourself in danger. Often you can find a small representative test-slope–one that won’t kill you if it does slide. Or, you can work your way into progressively more dangerous terrain. For instance, if a snowpit on safe terrain gives you a green light, then it gives you the confidence to dig another one on more dangerous terrain. Green light there? Then, move onto even more dangerous terrain, and so on. Never dive into the middle of a dangerous avalanche path without first gathering lots of additional data about the stability of the slope.
Don’t dig it along ridgelines where the wind has affected the snow–a common mistake. Although sometimes the crown face of an avalanche may break right up to the ridge, the place where we most often trigger avalanches is 100 or more feet (30 meters) down off the ridge. Avoid thick trees because conditions are often quite different than on open slopes. Avoid compression zones and tension zones. Avoid places where people have compacted the snow.
Bottom line:
LOOK FOR NEUTRAL, OPEN AREAS AT MID SLOPE WITHOUT WIND EFFECTS.
Hot tip:
Use an avalanche probe to find a representative place with average depth. Poking around with a probe can save a lot of time digging in stupid places, like on top of a rock or tree or where a previous party had their lunch.
Most important, dig lots of snowpits in lots of different areas because the snow can vary quite a bit from place to place. Look for the pattern of instability.
Simple Snowpit Tests:
For simple snowpit tests you do not need to be in steep terrain. Recent research shows that slope angles of 25 degrees are sufficient and even gentler slopes will still provide good data. This means you do NOT have to exposure yourself to avalanche danger to collect stability data. If at all possible, use a snow saw because it makes your test go much faster.
Some of the more common tests used include the Extended Column Test and the Compression Test. It’s best to take a class or get a mentor to show you how to do these tests, and – more importantly – how to interpret them.

STABILITY TEST
THOUGH COMMONLY CALLED “STABILITY TESTS”, THESE TESTS SHOULD REALLY BE CALLED “INSTABILITY TESTS”. THEY ARE USED TO SEARCH FOR POSSIBLE INSTABILITY IN THE SNOWPACK. DUE TO SPATIAL VARIABILITY, YOU NEVER WANT TO USE A TEST TO TELL YOU THE SNOWPACK IS STABLE. RATHER, YOU SHOULD USE THEM TO TELL YOU THE CONDITIONS ARE UNSTABLE ON A DAY WHEN YOU MIGHT THING THINGS WOULD BE STABLE. COMMON TESTS INCLUDE THE EXTENDED COLUMN TEST AND THE COMPRESSION TEST, THOUGH MANY OTHER TESTS ALSO EXIST.
Digging a snowpit:
Dig your pit quickly in a representative area for your test. Don’t waste time, but also keep your pit wall where you will do your test vertical and smooth.

How deep to dig a snowpit:
Since it’s difficult for humans to trigger avalanches more than about 1.5 meters (5 feet) thick, (unless they are triggered from a shallower spot) you seldom need to dig snowpits deeper unless you specifically know there’s a deeper weak-layer that may cause problems. If you already know that the deep layers have no worries, then just concentrate on the shallow snow. Each situation is a little different and in time you will get a feel for it. But in general, keep your snowpits less than 1.5 to 2 meters deep unless you know of a good reason to go deeper.
Where to dig a snowpit:
Where to dig a snowpit is probably more important than how to dig one. Choosing a representative location is an art, and art is difficult to describe.
Dig it on a slope most representative of the slope you are interested in but without putting yourself in danger. Often you can find a small representative test-slope–one that won’t kill you if it does slide. Never dive into the middle of a dangerous avalanche path without first gathering lots of additional data about the stability of the slope.
Don’t dig it along ridgelines where the wind has affected the snow–a common mistake. Although sometimes the crown face of an avalanche may break right up to the ridge, the place where we most often trigger avalanches is 100 or more feet (30 meters) down off the ridge. Avoid thick trees because conditions are often quite different than on open slopes. Avoid places where people have compacted the snow.
Bottom line:
LOOK FOR NEUTRAL, OPEN AREAS AT MID SLOPE WITHOUT WIND EFFECTS.
Hot tip:
Use an avalanche probe to find a representative place with average depth. Poking around with a probe can save a lot of time digging in stupid places, like on top of a rock or tree or where a previous party had their lunch. Most important, dig lots of snowpits in lots of different areas because the snow can vary quite a bit from place to place. Look for the pattern of instability.

Extended column test:
Extended column tests are becoming the standard stability test for folks in the backcountry. You isolate a block 90 cm wide by 30 cm deep and tap on one side using the same loading taps as the compression test (see below). Look for how many taps it takes to fracture the block. More importantly, note whether the fracture propagated across the entire block or not. Any fractures that propagate across the entire block are a red flag, no matter how hard you have to tap. If you don’t have other information that strongly suggests the snow is stable, avoid slopes with conditions where ECTs are propagating.

Compression test:

Isolate a small column (30 x 30 cm). Then take the blade of the shovel and lay it flat on top. Finally start tapping progressively harder on the shovel blade until the column fails. Start with ten taps by articulating from your wrist, then ten more taps by articulating from your elbow, then ten more from your shoulder using the full weight of your arm. Don’t push your arm into the snow, but let it fall with its own weight. Easy taps are bad and hard taps are good. However, even with hard taps we strongly urge you to also do an ECT to see if it fully propagates.

STEPPING DOWN
WHEN A SLAB AVALANCHE SLIDES A SHORT DISTANCE AND BREAKS DOWN INTO DEEPER WEAK LAYERS FORMING A STAIR-STEP PATTERN ON THE BED SURFACE.
When multiple weak layers exist in the snowpack, a smaller, shallower avalanche may trigger a deeper weak layer, which results in a much larger and more dangerous avalanche. These types of avalanches can be especially dangerous to people because a person could trigger the smaller avalanche but then find themselves caught in the much larger and more danger avalanche.
When you deal with a snowpack that has the potential to step down into deeper weak layers, it’s important to notch back your level of exposure because of the dangerous consequences.

SUN CRUST
A SNOW LAYER MELTED BY RADIATION FROM THE SUN AND SUBSEQUENTLY REFROZEN.
A frozen sun crust sometimes forms a hard bed surface for future avalanches to run upon, but just as often does not. When new snow falls on a sun crust, it may produce loose snow avalanches and but this avalanche activity is short-lived. Over time through complex processes of heat and vapor transfer, small facets can form near a crust. These facets can become the weak layer for future slab avalanches.
Sun crusts, of course, form only on sunny slopes and not at all on the shady ones. So we find them mostly on southeast, south, southwest and west facing slopes at mid latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (and conversely forms more uniformly on all aspects in tropical and arctic latitudes). On these aspects many sun crusts can form during a season. Many do not become an avalanche concern while some do.

Hot Tip:
When new snow falls on a sun crust, it’s important to check out whether the sun crust is wet or frozen when the snow starts. If it’s wet, the new snow will stick to it and you most likely won’t have any immediate avalanche problem, but if the crust is frozen, then the new snow does not tend to bond very well.

Sun Crust Summary:
Formed:
By strong sun on the snow surface.
Looks like:
Shiny with slightly rough surface.
Distribution pattern:
Forms only on sunny aspects, none on shady aspects – moderately elevation dependent.

SURFACE HOAR
FEATHERLY CRYSTALS THAT FORM ON THE SNOW SURFACE DURING CLEAR AND CALM CONDITIONS – ESSENTIALLY FROZEN DEW. FORMS A PERSISTENT WEAK LAYER ONCE BURIED.
Surface hoar is a fancy name for frost. When you have to scrape your windshield in the morning, surface hoar grows on the surface of snow—hence its name. It grows during clear, humid and calm conditions and once buried, it is a particularly thin, fragile and persistent weak layer in the snowpack, which accounts for a number of avalanche deaths each season.

Surface hoar is an especially tricky weak layer because it can form very quickly. One calm, clear night—sometimes just a few hours—is enough time to deposit a thin layer on the snow surface. And once buried, it is very thin and difficult to detect, yet very weak. Also, it tends to form in a complex, hard-to-predict distribution pattern on the terrain. For instance it might form only above a certain elevation where the mountain rises above the clouds. It might form below a certain elevation where cold, humid air pools. It might form in a distinct elevation band where thin clouds form a “bathtub ring” in a confined mountain valley. It tends to form on open slopes as opposed to in trees. Also, when deposited on the snow surface, since it is so fragile, any small disturbance—especially wind—can easily destroy the layer making it very “pockety” i.e. you find it in one spot but not another. No wonder Canadian research indicated that surface hoar accounts for most unintentional human triggered avalanches triggered by professionals
Because surface hoar is so thin, it is also difficult to detect. Often you can’t see it in a snow pit wall and it only reveals itself when you get a clean shear and you look at the bottom of the block and see the flat, feathery, sparkly crystals glittering back at you. The best way to detect surface hoar is to carefully pay attention to the snow surface each day. Before the storm arrives, carefully make a mental map of where surface hoar remains intact. You can typically find surface hoar in basin bottoms and near creeks or lakes.

How it forms:
During a clear sky, the snow in the shade or at night radiates a tremendous amount of heat away and the snow surface becomes very cold. Since we know from earlier in this chapter that warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, the vapor from the warmer air above the snow will condense onto the surface of the snow, and voila, we have surface hoar. Surface hoar (frost) is simply the winter equivalent of dew.
Note: in arctic latitudes, the mid-winter sun is so weak that surface hoar grows all day long, even in the sun. You can grow HUGE surface hoar in the north-country, especially in basin bottoms and near streams.

Next, let’s take a short lesson in the second ingredient for surface hoar–humid air. Humidity, or relative humidity, is the amount of water air can hold compared to the amount it actually does hold. For instance, air at 50 percent relative humidity contains only half the amount of water vapor it could if there was an infinite supply of water around. How much water can air hold? It depends on the temperature. Remember, warm air holds much more water vapor than cold air. In other words, we can change relative humidity two ways, first, by adding or taking away water (humid air left over after a storm or humid air near streams), and second by raising or lowering the temperature. This second method, as it turns out, creates much, if not most, of the humidity that forms surface hoar. As air cools down during a clear, calm night, it becomes more humid. Often, this cold, humid air pools up into the bottoms of mountain valleys and basins, exactly where we find surface hoar.
Finally, we need the last ingredient, calm air. Too much wind will destroy the fragile surface hoar crystals, plus, too much wind doesn’t allow the cold, air to pool and become humid. Actually about 3 mph is best for surface hoar production because it’s just fast enough to bring a continuous supply of humid air to the snow surface but not too fast to destroy it.
In summary, surface hoar forms in the following conditions:
• Clear sky
• No direct sunshine, or very weak sun
• Calm or light winds (about 3 mph is best)
• Open slope exposed to a clear sky (trees or clouds can radiate their own heat and disrupt the process)
• Humid air

Distribution Pattern of Surface Hoar:
With this knowledge of both radiation and humidity in mind, let’s where we are most likely to find surface hoar after a clear, calm night. First, the snow must be exposed to a clear sky. This means that surface hoar doesn’t grow under evergreen trees where the thick branches disrupt the back-radiation process. However surface hoar grows just fine in a sparse grove of aspen trees because they don’t block much radiation.
And what about humidity? We know that cold air sinks and on cold, clear conditions, cold air will pool in the bottom of a valley or a mountain basin. When air cools it becomes more humid, thus, surface hoar tends to form more at lower elevations or especially in the bottom of mountain basins and not nearly as much on mountain tops or ridges. We also find thick layers of surface hoar near open streams because they provide such a constant vapor source.
This is a tricky situation, because normally we expect more avalanche danger the higher we go on a mountain because there’s more snow and more wind. But with surface hoar as a weak-layer there’s counter-intuitively more danger at lower elevations, which commonly surprises people who aren’t accustomed to surface hoar.
But what happens if the air in the valley bottom becomes so humid it turns into fog? Remember the snow surface has to be exposed to a clear sky to form surface hoar. So if the fog is thick enough, it prevents surface hoar from forming. But with a thin fog, surface hoar grows like crazy. Now let’s say the fog is thick, perhaps 300 m (1000 vertical feet) which is probably thick enough to prevent surface hoar from forming on the valley floor, it still forms along the top of the fog layer where we still have the perfect conditions for surface hoar. So like a bathtub ring, in the morning we often see a thick layer of surface hoar along the top of the fog layer. Often you see this same bathtub ring effect along the top layer of stratus clouds that are low enough for the mountaintops to rise above the clouds.
Once formed, surface hoar is very fragile, and even a light wind can either blow or sublimate it away. Because the wind can remove surface hoar from some areas and leave it in others, once buried, it can be devilishly difficult to detect. A snowpit in one place might show nothing suspicious while one 10 feet away may show a very fragile layer. We don’t find as much surface hoar on mountain tops not only because of the aforementioned humidity differences but because the wind blows more on mountaintops and ridges than in valleys.
Surface hoar forms much more commonly in maritime climates than continental climates because it needs humid air. In high latitudes such as Alaska and northern Canada, surface hoar grows all day long since the sun is so weak in mid winter. I have seen widespread areas of eight inch thick surface hoar crystals in Alaska, in the bottom of mountain basins.
Mechanical properties of surface hoar:
Surface hoar makes perhaps the perfect avalanche weak-layer. It’s thin, it’s very weak, it’s notoriously persistent and it commonly forms on hard bed surfaces, which are also slippery. Finally, thin weak-layers tend to fail more easily because any shear deformation within the snowpack is concentrated into a small area.
Surface hoar can fail either by collapse or in shear. It can fail in collapse if the new snow is added slowly, the surface hoar crystals remain standing up, like columns, and when critically loaded, just one thump and all the columns collapse catastrophically, like the old college trick where you can stand on an upright, empty beer can without crushing it, but one tap of a finger–and crunch!–ready for the recycle bin. In fact, this is probably the most common scenario for surface hoar, as well as other persistent weak layers: often the first or second storm on top of a surface hoar layer doesn’t weigh enough to overload it, but the third or fourth storm finally adds up to the critical weight. Whamo! Just like the college beer can experiment.
Surface hoar can also fail in shear when the first snowfall lays the surface hoar crystals over on their side; they remain as a paper-thin discontinuity in the snowpack with very poor bonding across that layer. These laid-over crystals, however, tend to bond up more quickly than the ones that remain standing on end.

Types of surface hoar:
This is getting a little fancy for mere mortals, but there different kinds of surface hoar crystals and some are more dangerous than others. I call these: needles, feathers and wedges. Different combinations of temperature and relative humidity form each kind. The take home point here is that the danger and persistence of surface hoar goes in the order of: needles, feathers and wedges–wedges being the worst.
Type of surface hoar
Conditions formed under
Looks like
Forecasting considerations

Needles
Very cold temperatures above -21 deg C.
Tiny Needles
Less persistent, doesn’t form thick layers

Feathers
Normal temperatures
Feathers
Persistent, but is laid down more easily than wedges

Wedges
Normal temperatures
Wedges
Very persistent and tends to remains upright
Forecasting Considerations:
Surface hoar crystals are notoriously persistent in the snowpack. Instabilities commonly last for a week or two. In the cold snowpacks of Montana and Wyoming, I have seen avalanches on a surface hoar layer four months after it was first deposited. The best way to deal with surface hoar is carefully map it every time it forms BEFORE new snow covers it up. Any time we have surface hoar on the snow surface and I know we have a storm on the way, I will dutifully march around and carefully notice where it still exists and where either the sun has melted it away or the wind has destroyed it, and I will document it for future reference. As you can imagine, this information literally takes on life and death importance during each successive loading event.
Another tricky situation with surface hoar: During a snowstorm, it might be snowing and cloudy when you go to bed, and still snowing and cloudy when you wake up. But during the night, unbeknownst to you, the winds die and the sky clears for a few hours, and voila, a thin layer of surface hoar forms–and you didn’t even notice it. The next day, you will notice sensitive soft slab avalanches within the new snow and you expect them to calm down after a day like usual, but instead, they last for several days. You dig to investigate and find the culprit. Darn that sneaky surface hoar!

Surface Hoar Summary:
Forms:
clear sky, light to calm wind, humid air.
Looks like:
Sparkly, flat, feather-like or wedge-shaped, stepped, striated crystals–sometimes mistaken for facets or stellar snow that falls from the sky.
Also called:
hoar frost, frost, feathers
Distribution Pattern:
Open areas without trees or sparse trees exposed to a clear sky, lower elevations as opposed to upper elevations, the bottoms of mountain basins, beneath thin fog layer, the top of a thick fog layer or stratus cloud layer, shady, calm areas, near streams
Persistence:
Extremely persistent weak-layer–one week to months depending on temperature. Especially persistent and dangerous when on top of a firm ice crust.
Best snowpit detection method:
Shovel shear test or compression test. Look at the bottom of the block to see the crystals.
Forecasting considerations:
Carefully map the distribution of surface hoar BEFORE it is buried by subsequent snow. Be suspicious of it with each loading event. Surface hoar is guilty until proven innocent.

TERRAIN TRAP
TERRAIN IN WHICH THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN AVALANCHE ARE ESPECIALLY HAZARDOUS, SUCH AS A GULLY, AN ABRUPT TRANSITION, AN AVALANCHE PATH THAT TERMINATES IN TREES, A CREVASSE FIELD OR A CLIFF.
What will happen if it slides? The consequence of an avalanche is one of the most important factors in judging the danger of avalanche terrain. Bad consequences include trees (the “giant bread slicer”) a large cliff or a terrain trap. A terrain trap is a sharply concave part of the runout such as a gully, an abrupt transition or a crevasse where avalanche debris will pile up deeply. Since shoveling takes such a long time, deep burials have a very low chance of survival. Very few victims live from burials deeper than about 5 feet. Even a small avalanche off the side of a gully can have very deadly consequences.

TRIGGER POINT
THE AREA WHERE A TRIGGER INITIATES AN AVALANCHE.
When weather events (typically wind, snow, or rain) stress the snowpack close to its breaking point, often just a small thump will initiate a fracture and cause the whole slope to shatter like a pane of glass. Since snow varies quite a bit from place to place, sometimes several people can cross the slope before one person finds the “trigger point”.

Often the trigger point is a place where, 1) either the buried weak layer is especially weak, 2) the stress on the weak layer is especially great, or 3) the overlying slab is thinner or softer and a person can more easily affect the buried weak layer, which initiates a fracture. For instance, In continental or intermountain snowpacks with faceted snow as the weak layer, often the trigger point is near shallow, rocky areas on the slope or near a ridge where the slab is thinner. On a recently wind loaded slope, the trigger point is often where a thick layer of wind drifted snow has overloaded a steep part of the slope.

UPSIDE-DOWN STORM
WHEN A SNOWSTORM DEPOSITS DENSER SNOW OVER LESS DENSE SNOW, RAPIDLY CREATING A SLAB/WEAK LAYER COMBINATION.
Lucky for us, most storms deposit new snow with denser snow on the bottom and lighter snow on top—just the way we like it. This is because most snow comes from cold fonts, which usually start out warm and windy but end up cold and calm. But sometimes snowstorms deposit denser, stiffer snow on top of softer, fluffier snow. We call this “upside down” snow. We often call it “slabby” or “punchy” meaning that you punch through the surface slab into the softer snow below, making for difficult riding and trail breaking conditions. It also means that we need to carefully monitor avalanche conditions within the new snow because—by definition—a denser slab has been recently deposited on top of a weaker layer, which should make anyone’s avalanche antennae stand at attention. Most instabilities within upside-down snow stabilize within a day or two.
The kind of weather conditions that often produce upside-down snow include warm fronts, storms in which the wind blows harder at the end of the storm than the beginning, or storms that end with an unstable airmass, which can precipitate a lot of graupel within instability showers.

WEAK INTERFACE
A POOR BOND BETWEEN TWO ADJACENT LAYERS OF SNOW.
Usually, avalanches fracture within a discrete weak layer but occasionally, the fracture can form along a thin boundary between two stronger layers. A common example is when a slab slides on an ice crust. Also see “weak layer”.

WHUMPF
WHEN THE FRACTURE OF A WEAK SNOW LAYER CAUSES AN UPPER LAYER TO COLLAPSE, MAKING A WHUMPFING SOUND. THIS AN OBVIOUS SIGN OF INSTABILITY.
Whumpf has actually been adopted as a technical avalanche term to describe the sound of a collapsing snowpack when you cross the snow. For instance, “we got a lot of whumpfing today,” or “the snowpack whumpfed like rolling thunder just before it released and caught us.” This is the sound of nature screaming in your ear that the snowpack is very unstable. Most snowpacks collapse onto a “persistent” weak layer such as faceted snow, depth hoar or surface hoar, although occasionally whumpfing occurs on very wet snowpack as well.
Also see “Collapse”.

WIND SLAB
A COHESIVE LAYER OF SNOW FORMED WHEN WIND DEPOSITS SNOW ONTO LEEWARD TERRAIN. WIND SLABS ARE OFTEN SMOOTH AND ROUNDED AND SOMETIMES SOUND HOLLOW.

What direction the slope faces with respect to the wind is a HUGE factor. Wind erodes from the upwind side of an obstacle such as a ridge and it deposits on the downwind side, and wind can deposit snow ten times more rapidly than snow falling from the sky.
Wind deposits snow most commonly on the leeward side of upper elevation prominent terrain features such as ridges, peaks and passes. We call this “top loading.” But wind can also blow across a slope which we call “cross loading” and wind can even cause loading when it blows down a slope. Remember that wind can blow from any direction and thus deposit snow on most any slope. (See Weather chapter on weather factors affecting wind slab development)
The bottom line: be suspicious of any steep slope with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

Typical Wind Slab Locations:

Ridgetop Loading:
Ridge top winds transport wind from the windward side of a ridge to the lee slope. Cornices are often formed on steep ridgelines but may not be present on rounded ridge tops. Windward slopes may show scoured snow and or exposed rock or grass.

Side Loading:
Cross slope winds typically load gullies and chutes. This may occur at any elevation depending on winds. Higher areas will typically be scoured. Low areas may look smooth.

Wind slabs are so dangerous because:
• As the wind bounces the eroded snow across the snow surface, it grinds up the snow into small, dense particles. By the time they finally come to a rest on lee of an obstacle–where the wind slows down–they pack into a heavy, dense layer of snow that can easily overload any buried weak layer.
• When strong wind starts to blow, within minutes, wind can turn nice fluffy powder into a dangerous wind slab. When very safe conditions quickly turn into very dangerous conditions, it easily takes people by surprise.
• Wind slabs can form in extremely localized areas. Often only a few inches separates safe snow from dangerous snow. We often hear people say, “I was just walking along and suddenly the snow changed. It started cracking under my feet, and then the whole slope let loose.”

How to Recognize Wind Slabs:
Lucky for us, wind creates easy-to-read textures on the snow surface and characteristically shaped deposits. No one should go into avalanche terrain without first learning how to read these obvious signs. An old avalanche hunter’s adage: If you have developed a good eye for slope steepness and the effects of wind, you can avoid about 90 percent of all avalanches.
Eroded snow vs. Deposited Snow

Eroded snow:
• Looks Like: has a sandblasted, scoured, scalloped, roughed-up look.
• Feels Like: often hard snow and difficult to negotiate on skis, snowboard or snowmobile.
• Also called: “sastrugi”.
• What it means: Weight (snow) has been removed from snowpack and it usually means that the snow has become more stable than before.

Deposited snow (wind slabs):
• Looks Like: smooth and rounded, lens shaped, pillow shaped, chalky-white color
• Feels Like: “slabby” i.e. harder snow on top of softer snow.
• Sound: often hollow like a drum–the more drum-like, the more dangerous
• Often notice:
• Cracks shooting away from you–the longer the crack, the more dangerous.
• Falling through a harder surface layer into softer snow below. You can easily feel this with a ski pole or a snowmobile track punching through.
• Difficult trail breaking . Keep falling through the slab.
• Hardness: can be very soft to so hard that you can hardly kick a boot into it.
• Also called: pillows, wind slabs, snow transport.
• What it means: weight has been added to the snowpack. If the weight has been added recently, and it’s on a steep slope without anchors, then it almost always means danger. (photo)
• What you should do when you find a wind slab on a steep slope:
• Stop immediately! Don’t go any farther!
• Back off if you’re on a big slope and dig down to investigate how well the slab is bonded to the underlying snow (see Stability chapter)
• Jump on a few safe, test slopes to see how the snow responds.
• If the slab breaks away easily on your tests, don’t cross larger slopes. Go back the way you came or find another route that avoids wind slabs.
• If you absolutely have to cross the slope (and I can think of damned few reasons why you HAVE to cross a dangerous slope without delving into B-movie plot devices), stay on the extreme upper edge of the wind slab, wear a belay rope tied to a solid anchor, and hope the crown fracture breaks at your feet instead of above you.

2020-2021 SEASON
36 US fatalities
Activity
Killed
Skier 17
Snowboarder 5
Snowmobiler 8
Snowshoer/Climber/Hiker 5
Other 1
Total 36

INCLUDED BELOW ARE THREE ARTICLES ON THE HISTORY OF SKIING. ENJOY.

FIS TIMELINE. A SKI HISTORY

LOCAL SKI HISTORY SKI HISTORY

MOUNT SPOKANE SKI HISTORY

AVALANCHE AWARENESS

LIABILITY RELEASE