| OCR Text |
Show Uyen a moderate amount of use has this effect. It is not necessary for the slope to "be packed; thoroughly cut up is enough. For this reason Alta snow rangers encourage the lifts to operate and the skiers to ski in the worst weather either can stand. On most slopes the experienced snow ranger can release any unstable snow by skiing the release points. This is standard practice at Alta and in several newly developed areas in Colorado. For the major slide paths, explosives are the only answer. A detailed account of the use of explosives at Alta is in the Annex. Cornices have already been mentioned as a phase of the delayed action avalanche problem. Smaller ones can be broken off with skis or shovels. Larger cornices which threaten the ski area should be blown off. There is one other direct method of avalanche protection which should be described briefly. Avalanche barriers are extensively used in Switzerland and are fairly effective. Two avalanche barriers have been constructed at Alta. One, a masonry wall, has been of no apparent benefit. The other is a series of posts laced together with cable protecting the upper terminal of one of the lifts. Its value is questionable. The objection to artificial avalanche barriers is their cost in proportion to the good they do. It seems likely that more can be accomplished at less expense with explosives. At Alta the only barrier under consideration at all is a snowshed for a portion of the highway. Educational Program: All the methods of protection, active and passive, which the snow ranger can employ are worthless without the cooperation of the skiers. No safety organization is or can be large enough to keep track of each individual who visits the area. Yet each individual, through carelessness or ignorance, is a potential cause of disaster to himself and to others. Cooperation is not gained by putting out a set of regulations, standing "Closed Area" signs in the snow, and expecting people to believe a certain slope is dangerous just because someone wearing a badge says so. Skiers are no more observant and even less receptive to regimentation than the rest of the American public. They don't read the bulletin boards and they won1t obey the signs unless they have been let in on the reasons. Few skiers have any real appreciation of the destructive force of an avalanche because they have never seen one in action. Naturally, if the safety organization is functioning as it should, they aren't around when the big avalanches come down. Skiers who have been coming to Alta for years had never seen anything but good avalanches-which are not always impressive-until the explosives control program of 1947-US. During that winter, hundreds of skiers got their first good look at a big avalanche in motion. The improvement in observance of safety regulations was marked. |
