This video outlines - for a wide audience - the current understanding of how rider-triggered and natural avalanches start. Bruce Jamieson, Karl Birkeland and Ron Simenhois, January 2023. CC BY-ND. Key sources: Schweizer, J., B. Reuter, A. van Herwijnen, J. Gaume. 2016. Avalanche release 101, Proceedings of the 2016 International Snow Science Workshop in Breckenridge, CO, USA. Gaume, J., van Herwijnen, A., Gast, T., Teran, J., Jiang, C. 2019. Investigating the release and flow of snow avalanches at the slope-scale using a unified model based on the material point method. Cold Region Science and Technology 168. Trottet, B., Simenhois, R., Bobillier, G.; Bergfeld, B., van Herwijnen, A., Jiang, C., Gaume, J. 2022. Transition from sub-Rayleigh anticrack to supershear crack propagation in snow avalanches. Nature Physics 18.

A cheesy animation of skier triggering, showing the crack in the weak layer then at the crown. CC BY-ND

Slab tension means different things to different avalanche practitioners (survey summer 2022). In this (controversial?) 21 minute video, Bruce Jamieson, Karl Birkeland, Grant Statham and Scott Thumlert summarize some common perceptions about slab tension, then review the role of slab tension in the modern understanding of dry slab avalanche release.

Triggering a persistent slab avalanche from a thin spot is infrequent, insidious and potentially deadly. This 6 minute video outlines the snowpack conditions and mechanics. Intended for intermediate and advanced backcountry recreationists and those interested in avalanche science. Feb 2022. CC BY-ND

An introduction to snow avalanche dynamics and impact. Includes avalanches in motion but no models and almost no math. Intended for anyone interested in avalanche science, early career avalanche practitioners, and Christian Jaedicke's students (perhaps as pre-course material?) Bruce Jamieson and Christian Jaedicke. October 2021.

Views on the roles of convexities in human triggered avalanches vary widely. In this educational video intended for intermediate and advanced winter backcountry recreationists, Ron Simenhois and Bruce Jamieson present various perspectives and research on human triggering near convex slopes. CC BY-ND.

Educational video about the energy exchange at the snow surface and some of the persistent weak snowpack layers formed primarily by the energy exchange. Updated 31 Dec 2017.

When salt is added to snow, the snow cools because heat from the snow flows into concentrated salt water around the salt grains. The surprisingly large amount of heat required for melting (i.e. latent heat) contributes to avalanche formation in at least two ways.

This video presents the technical concepts behind the current theory for the natural release (or spontaneous) of dry slab avalanches. There are a few questions and answers at the end for keeners.

For a skier, snowmobiler or other load to trigger a slab avalanche: the dynamic load must start a crack in a weak layer and then crack propagation must be sustained away from the load. There is no one paper that summarizes the ideas in this video, but you could start by searching for "simenhois fracture propagation" and read the short 2009 article. Thanks to Alec van Herwijnen, Cam Campbell and the Asarc crew for the video clips and photos.

A case study for avalanche practitioners about a difficult winter in which a weak layer of facets on a melt-freeze crust produced avalanches - including many hard to forecast avalanches - throughout the winter.

A field experiment shows major limitations of IR images of the pit wall for avalanche forecasting. However, some free images are excellent for avalanche education.