What causes avalanches, and can you survive them? - Simon Trautman
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Avalanches are the rapid descent of snow, ice, rock, or a combination of these down a slope. They can be destructive natural disasters and personal tragedies: killing an average of 27 people annually in the US. These alpine nightmares don’t just awaken out of nowhere; they need three specific conditions. So, what causes an avalanche? And is there any way to survive? Simon Trautman investigates.
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Additional Resources for you to Explore
For more reading on avalanches, visit here and explore avalanche safety here.
Read an in-depth multimedia feature on the Cascade Mountains avalanche with John Branch’s “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.” The piece won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and a Peabody Award.
The 1970 Peru avalanche was a catastrophic debris and ice avalanche triggered by a massive undersea earthquake on May 31, 1970. Explore the disaster in photos from the BBC and dig into the history of the avalanche and its fallout.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator
- Simon Trautman
- Director
- Denys Spolitak
- Narrator
- Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Composer
- Stephen LaRosa, Wonder Boy Audio
- Sound Designer
- Stephen LaRosa, Wonder Boy Audio
