In this On Tour, you'll take part in the snowpack analysis safety workshop. Find out how to analyze the snowpack and identify the associated risks!
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00:00 So today we did the advanced workshop for the riders of the Freeride World Tour.
00:09 It was a voluntary workshop of snowpack analysis and there's quite a few riders turned up and
00:14 it was brilliant.
00:15 It was one of the best workshops we've ever done.
00:17 We did a lot of tests and did a lot of digging.
00:35 Licking snow, tasting snow, feeling snow.
00:38 Exactly.
00:39 It was this little, what do you call that?
00:43 Microscope.
00:44 Yeah.
00:45 Magnifying glass.
00:46 Magnifying glass, thank you, that's what I was looking for.
00:48 Use that as my magnifying glass for snow analysis.
00:52 Look at those faceted crystals.
00:59 Look at that.
01:03 Looks good, huh?
01:04 Those look beautiful.
01:05 Exactly.
01:06 Whoa.
01:07 Nice one.
01:08 Like this up here?
01:18 That's quite strong, I think, that magnifying glass.
01:21 That's why I use this one because it's the best.
01:24 I'm glad I get that reaction.
01:26 I get warm and fuzzy.
01:27 That's so cool, hey?
01:29 We did different tests to understand how the layers react to different pressure.
01:33 We understood how the elements change how the snow feels, how the sun and the clouds
01:39 and the wind affect the snow.
01:40 See, if this was a little bit bigger, okay?
01:42 If you would ski into this one, most likely you'd be triggering an avalanche about, is
01:47 that for a sec?
01:49 Cheers, Marcus.
01:50 About over here where there's a very quick change from 30 centimeters over to 120 in
01:59 a very short distance.
02:01 That's a good way of putting it.
02:04 Now I want to know how pressure on the top of the snow surface will affect the layers
02:10 in there.
02:11 There's different tests, but I'll just show you one that's done very quickly and that
02:15 is fairly standard, the ECT, extended column test.
02:18 We cut out a column of about 30 by 90 centimeters.
02:25 Doesn't have to be all the way to the bottom.
02:31 You can already see something's happening here, which is not the one that we looked
02:35 at.
02:36 We didn't see that one.
02:38 This is a good way to see if there's layers in the layer that we can't see.
02:41 Let's see what happens if we try to get there.
02:46 It doesn't slide down.
02:48 This layer is a weak layer, but it's not on top of a plate.
02:53 Because that ice layer then is just like, it's going to be super dangerous for the rest
02:58 of the season.
02:59 There's another reason.
03:00 Look at the size of this tree.
03:01 Already broke it.
03:02 You can really see the layers now.
03:03 That's so cool, that one line.
03:04 Holy.
03:05 Yeah.
03:06 Majestic.
03:07 Yeah, right?
03:27 (gunshot)