Avalanche Book Reviews

My bro gave me an excellent book for Xmas - "Avalanche" by Robert Bolognesi.

In a handy pocket-book size (and supplied with a polythene dust-jacket) it's a comprehensive, but easy-to-understand, reference guide to avalanches and the associated risks.

After an introduction, the main part of the book is devoted to Risk Assessment and it's two aspects of Probability of Avalanche and Risk of Damage (to property and to people, of course).

Some 50 pages are devoted to Risk Assessment, ranging from evaluation of the Snow Pack (both from the preceding forecasts and from observation) through to assessing the experience of your companions.

The fact that half the book is devoted to Risk Assessment helps to drive home the importance of Avoidance - the absolute best way to survive an avalanche is not to be in it in the first place.

The remainder of the book covers Risk Reduction and includes coverage of Transceiver use and search procedures.

Highly Recommended!

And if that's not enough, the author has a similar handbook entirely devoted to "Snow"! If you don't know your Sintering from your Settling (I didn't) then this is the book for you! 8)

Anyone else got any good books on this?

Powderhound

Another fantastic book on general mountain skills is "Freedom of the Hills"

It provides a thorough knowledge base for all types of climbing, mountain safety and some references to avalanche safety and ski touring.