Avalanche

:This article refers to the natural event. For other uses, see Avalanche (disambiguation)

European avalanche risk table

In Europe, the avalanche risk is widely rated on the following scale, which was adopted in April 1993 to replace the earlier non-standard national schemes. Descriptions were last updated in May 2003 to enhance uniformity pdf.

Related Topics:
Europe - 1993 - May - 2003

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Stability:

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• Generally described in more detail in the avalanche bulletin (regarding the altitude, aspect, type of terrain etc.)

additional load:

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• heavy: two or more skiers or boarders without spacing between them, a single hiker or climber, a grooming machine, avalanche blasting.
• light: a single skier or snowboarder smoothly linking turns and without falling, a group of skiers or snowboarders with a minimum 10m gap between each person, a single person on snowshoes.

Gradient:

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• gentle slopes: with an incline below about 30°.
• steep slopes: with an incline over 30°.
• very steep slopes: with an incline over 35°.
• extreme steep slopes: extreme in terms of the incline (over 40°), the terrain profile, proximity of the ridge, smoothness of underlying ground.

Avalanche size:

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