Rock Bands

This photo is from the Stubai Glacier ski area and is from Patrick Nairz of the Tirol Avalanche Warning Service. It was taken is spring when the snow was very wet. The slides started by skiers here were a matter of wet snow sliding off from a ski cut below the skier, they are not really slab avalanches and did not fracture above the skier. However, if a skier had gotten wrapped up in one of these avalanches the consequences would be more severe due to the rock bands and the trauma injuries that would likely result.