INT D280 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Avalanche, Klondike Gold Rush, Chilkoot Trail

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Interdisciplinary Undergraduate and Graduate Courses
• Course: INT D280
• Professor: Zac Robinson

Document Summary

Called white friday, although most avalanches occurred on a wednesday: the 1880s gold rush era is where we see western avalanches. Most famous incident in 1898 along chilkoot trail the klondike gold rush. At the time was most widely reported avalanche report, about 9 meters of snow: earliest reported avalanche fatality in nain, newfoundland and labrador. This bond and anchorage of snow layers, called shear strength, resists the downslope force of gravity, which is called shear stress: loose-snow avalanches have little internal cohesion. They start when a small amount of loose snow slips and begins to slide down a slope, setting additional snow in motion. So are wind, earthquakes, an increase in snow load, rapid warming, rain, rockfall, cornice (pillow of overhanging snow on the peak of the mountain) failure: surface hoar getting buried in a snowpack can remain for days or weeks.