Isnt it most dangerous in springtime when there are more avalanches?
Spring conditions may be the time of year when there are the most avalanches, but once a regular cycle of melting and freezing sets in, predicting the stability of the snowpack is more evident than during the cold winter months. During the freeze phase, the snowpack is at its strongest. Once free water has seeped into the snowpack, through rain or melting, then it can turn into ice when the temperatures go below freezing – the ice forms a sort of ’skeleton’ that holds the snowpack together. Melting during the day and freezing at night is a classic springtime process. In these conditions, after a good freeze at night, the slopes are very stable first thing in the morning. Then, as the sun rises (warming east facing slopes first), the ice skeleton holding the snowpack together melts and the slope eventually becomes much less stable. In melting and freezing conditions, the snowpack is at its strongest during the freeze phase then at its weakest during the melt phase. In between these phas
