Ski-runs in the high Alps . al snowfall and what becomes of it ?—How glaciersmay be classed—Mechanical forces at work—Moraines andseracs—Avalanches—Periodic avalanches—Accidental ava-lanches—The general causes—The statics of snow—Whathappens to winter snow—Strata—How steep slopes may beclassed—Excusable ignorance of strangers to the Alps—Those who write glibly in home magazines—Unsafe slopes—Avalanches when running across slopes—The probing-stick—Avalanche runs—Military ski-ing—The St. Gothardand St. Maurice districts—Military raids in the High Alps——The glaciers as military highways—Riflemen
Ski-runs in the high Alps . al snowfall and what becomes of it ?—How glaciersmay be classed—Mechanical forces at work—Moraines andseracs—Avalanches—Periodic avalanches—Accidental ava-lanches—The general causes—The statics of snow—Whathappens to winter snow—Strata—How steep slopes may beclassed—Excusable ignorance of strangers to the Alps—Those who write glibly in home magazines—Unsafe slopes—Avalanches when running across slopes—The probing-stick—Avalanche runs—Military ski-ing—The St. Gothardand St. Maurice districts—Military raids in the High Alps——The glaciers as military highways—Riflemen on foot asagainst marksmen on ski. N the whole the Mid-Europeanglaciers are a legacy from adistant past. Their former size and extentcorresponded to general meteoro-logical conditions which havelong ceased to exist. They might—and no doubtdid — alternately increase anddecrease within historical nevertheless must beviewed as a bequest, a kind of heirloom coming 364. GLACIERS, AVALANCHES, MILITARY SKI-ING 265 from a prehistoric ancestry. They are the survivalof a phenomenon which, in its former compass andintensity, is no longer compatible with the meteoro-logical regime of Central Europe. The temperature most suitable for the formationof ice in nature is the temperature which remainsthe most steadily around the freezing-point of of temperature are not favourable to theformation of snow, which is the form in which watergenerally passes into glacier ice. It stands to reason that the oftener the atmo-sphere can be saturated with moisture in circum-stances which allow a frequent discharge in theshape of snow falling upon surfaces that are iced—or such as will retain the snow, assuring the trans-formation of some of it, ultimately, into ice—themore will the thermometer readings show a tempera-ture rising and falling only moderately above andbelow the freezing-point of natural water. Thereis no use in furt
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmountai, bookyear1913
