Snowboard Wax

When out in the hills with your friends having an incredible powder day there can always be the temptation to push the limits that little bit more and ride down new and steeper slopes. While you may have risked things a little in the past and greatly enjoyed those days you may actually have been in real danger on many occasions without realizing! Continually pushing the limits out in the backcountry, without being properly informed or having the right equipment and practiced procedures, you could be on a collision course with one of natures most lethal phenomenon’s, the dreaded ‘avalanche’.

Every year novice through to expert snowboarders get caught up in avalanches. Wherever snow occurs on mountains there is likely to be a risk of an avalanche somewhere.

Avalanches can be classified by being are more-solid structured areas of snow that break free from the hold of the surrounding snow due to a given physical disturbance. This snow proceeds down the mountain potentially taking everything near the snows surface down with it.

Throughout the winter snow gets deposited in layers, many of which are different in how they bond together, amongst various other properties.

Avalanches can occur when:

• one layer breaks it’s bond with another layer, starting to slide on top of the lower layer


• the whole of the snow depth slides down the mountain

Characteristics of avalanches are:

• they are ‘dry’ or ‘wet’, dependent on the quantity of free water contained in the snow mass


• they may be starting at one small point, as a few patches of loose snow, or as a larger intact layer of snow

Take a look at the layers visible from the roadside when in the car. When near or on the pistes look at the whole area searching for evidence of avalanches, snow accumulation and drifts.

Dig a snow pit to assess the likelihood of the different snow layers being released. This can be done by choosing an untouched area of snow. Using a shovel cut a 1.5-2 foot channel so that a cuboid or rectangular stack/ wedge of unmoved snow exists. Remove the top layer of snow, then either with your hands or shovel reach to the back of the wedge and see how much pressure is required to make a each snow layer of snow detach and slide off. Doing this a number of times in an area that may have avalanches builds a great idea of how the snow may act with a physical disturbance disturbance.

What the weather is, and has, been like is one of the most important factors to asses. Temperature affects both how the snow flakes and layers are bonded to each other.

A great idea is to gain a weather report from a variety of sources, e.g. local, internet or television, before you head out to snowboard. If you know the direction the wind is coming from while a snow layer is being deposited at a freezing temperature it follows that slopes facing the direction the wind is going are going to be more prone to avalanche, and so should possibly be avoided or approached with caution.

Remember other factors such as overhanging cornices add to the likelihood of a disturbance setting off an avalanche. Also, this wedge test only applies to slopes in that particular area with the same altitude and orientation.

Don’t get too near to cornices, especially whilst a snow storm or heavy snow drifts are going on, 1-2 full days immediately after, or during major rises in general air temperature or when a large thaw is in process. Always create a reasonable distance from the edge of a cornice when walking near one, i.e. stand on the opposite side to the cornice at a level below where the highest point of the ground nearest you is.

Convex slopes are typically more unstable than those that are concave. This is due to there being a point where the bulge of snow is greatest, liable to tension fracture leading to slab avalanches.

The majority of big slab avalanches occur on slopes ranging from 25-45 degrees.

When negotiating a route, whether hiking or snowboarding, always try to choose the least dangerous path available. No compromises! If a route looks dangerous why risk your life, simply choose another route or leave the trip for another day or so.

The terrain of the surrounding area is important. Smooth sheer rock faces are able to release their snow very easily. Ground that is highly uneven with large boulders is able to hold on to base layers of snow, reducing the risk of an avalanche.

Buttresses and ridges tend to be more stable areas to move along than open slope faces.

Slopes that are on the downwind side need to be avoided post-storms or large scale snow drifting, often found on the sheltered sides of plateau rims and ridges.

Important considerations:

• When traversing a slope do it one person at a time. Onlookers should be vigilant for any indications of danger


• Carry a small rucksack to put everything in, including a collapsible search probe and shovel


• walking lowers the chance of an avalanche due in part to a smaller area of snow affected


• When in the backcountry always use a tranciever that you know how to and have practiced using. Switch it on and place it under your thermal layer for protection from damage or loss before you start your days snowboarding


• travel in groups of two or more


• Travel directly down or up the slope is much safer than traversing it

If you find yourself in the start of an avalanche:

• make your best efforts to slow your departure down the mountain. Use any method you can, i.e. grab a rock, snow, dig your snowboard edges in, avoid spreading yourself out so that you catch snow


• if possible remove your snowboard. This is very useful in that you will be more able to plant your feet in the snow and potentially stop your acceleration down the slope. Also, vitally, you will be able to dig yourself out of the snow more easily once the avalanche has stopped


• if possible move to the edge of the slope or above the fault line


• when the avalanche slows fight hard to grab anything that will help you reach the surface. Try to at least punch a hole in the snows surface to aid searches and provide fresh air to breathe


• try to raise the alarm, shout and wave your arms to alert others


• remaining on the top of a large slab can be beneficial


• If you have bought an expensive avalanche airbag, which inflates just like a car airbag, out of a backpack, now is the time to use it. Manufacturers insist so far it has improved the wearers survival rate to 95%

When buried by an avalanche:

• seek to calm down to avoid using up your energy and the potentially low quantity of air about your person


• try to ensure at least one hand is in front of your mouth to then create a larger air space to breathe from


• if possible aim to keep as much air in your lungs/ chest as possible to then obtain a large area for you to be able to breathe in


• you can use a avalanche specific breathing device that lessens moisture from your breath sealing the edge of the snow around you. This device also crucially reduces carbon dioxide poisoning

In terms of avalanche rescue:

• make contact with the emergency services


• keep in mind you are the victims only real means of being dug out alive. Survival chances do massively decrease in the first 5-10 minutes. It is important to say also that the chances of being dug out alive don’t fully reach nil for quite a while!


• make sure there is no further danger of avalanches falling on the search team


• perform an initial fast search surface scan of the debris, looking for potential signs of the victim, listening for their sounds and probing likely burial spots


• keep searching until emergency services arrive


• if possible watch the victim as he/ she gets taken down the mountain and try to remember where they were last seen


• undergo a thorough systematic probing search, if need be with anything you can find e.g. ice axe

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