[NMCCSC] 30 Degree snow slope re AVI Potential

[Carl Smith via NMCCSCeGroup]

30 - degree snow slope re avalanche potential

Following the emails and Facebook items on assessing whether a snow slope is greater or lesser than 30 degrees, here is another technique. It uses trigonometry. Recall that the sides of a 30 – 60 triangle are proportionally  1, 2, and the square root of 3.  1 is the short leg, 2 is the hypotenuse, and the square root of 3 is the other leg.


You need an existing mark on your ski pole at half its length. (Or if you have adjustable poles, note at what extension the joint between the upper and lower parts is half the length.) Lay the ski pole along the slope. (This will be the 2 – the hypotenuse - of the 30 – 60 triangle.) Then with a shovel or tail of a ski dig out a vertical surface below the pole. And deep enough to project a horizontal line into the snow from the lower end of the pole.  (This line will be the square root of 3 side of the 30-60 triangle.) Then with the pole check the height of a vertical from the inner end of the horizontal to where the upper end of the pole was (This is the 1 side of the triangle.) If this height is a half of the pole length, the slope surface is 30 degrees. If greater the slope surface is greater than 30 degrees and vis versa.


Cheers, Carl Smith 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/nmccscegroup/attachments/20190224/3fef9b43/attachment.html>