Snow Crystal Card

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DayTrip

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I was messing around online today looking at misc items and came across an item called a Snow Crystal Card. Has a variety of measuring grids, slope calculator, etc as well as all the common avalanche field tests. Apparently an AIARE recommended item. I've been "kinda" researching avalanche study the past several weeks and I don't recall seeing anything about measuring the granules of snow and classification. Is this an actual item people use in the field or just a novelty item? What exactly am I doing with the info?

Just curious how one measures and classifies snow crystals and what that means for avalanche study. I'm going to research further but if anyone has info on the process it would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Not a novelty item at all. Identification of snow crystals is a critical element of analyzing snowpack stability. The shape of a snow crystal at a given level of the snowpack in relation to crystals in adjacent layers is a prime indicator of it’s bonding potential to those adjacent layers. There are many potential scenarios. Different shapes of snow crystals bond better than others. A drier snow will typically deliver a spiked crystal which typically bonds better than a more rounded crystal of wetter snow. This is a very basic analysis. This is also why it is important to have a comprehension of the total evolvement of the snowpack in a given snow season. As a note IMO there is no replacement for taking an Avy certification course and practice analysis in the field taught by a certified instructor.
 
Not a novelty item at all. Identification of snow crystals is a critical element of analyzing snowpack stability. The shape of a snow crystal at a given level of the snowpack in relation to crystals in adjacent layers is a prime indicator of it’s bonding potential to those adjacent layers. There are many potential scenarios. Different shapes of snow crystals bond better than others. A drier snow will typically deliver a spiked crystal which typically bonds better than a more rounded crystal of wetter snow. This is a very basic analysis. This is also why it is important to have a comprehension of the total evolvement of the snowpack in a given snow season. As a note IMO there is no replacement for taking an Avy certification course and practice analysis in the field taught by a certified instructor.

Thanks. I would like to take an AIARE course but they are pricy (for me at least). I am not currently doing any type of hiking where avalanche assessment is a priority but I hope to eventually and have tried to learn some info so I am not totally in the dark.
 
Thanks. I would like to take an AIARE course but they are pricy (for me at least). I am not currently doing any type of hiking where avalanche assessment is a priority but I hope to eventually and have tried to learn some info so I am not totally in the dark.
Unfortunately, a little bit of information about avy danger is not always a good thing. You may make an assessment of low risk based on incomplete or erroneous information. In the east, avy terrain is pretty well identified so simply staying out of it is easy enough to do.
 
Unfortunately, a little bit of information about avy danger is not always a good thing. You may make an assessment of low risk based on incomplete or erroneous information. In the east, avy terrain is pretty well identified so simply staying out of it is easy enough to do.

I get that. I'm sure how I worded that was a pretty glaring red flag for someone wearing the "moderator hat". I'm not planning on getting an $8 pocket card and hitting the headwall of Huntington Ravine with a t-shirt that says "Everything I Know I Learned On VFTT". :)

I'm the kind of person who wants to know EVERYTHING about a topic when I try to learn about it and wouldn't make a judgement call on something of that significance on a small amount of information. When I say I want to "learn some info so I am not totally in the dark" I'm talking about measuring some slopes, digging some pits, looking at the layers, etc in a scenario where I am not at risk. More a processs of gaining some knowledge through actual observations versus making go/no go decisions at this point. Reading books and watching Youtube videos only goes so far. If/when that time comes I'll definitely have acquired the proper knowledge, whether through certification or significant research and field testing.

When I read the avalanche section in the Mountaineering:Freedom Of The Hills I don't recall a discussion of measuring the size of crystals, what shapes adhere/don't adhere, etc. That is what caught my interest when I saw the card and was what my question was regarding. I'll have to go back and reread that chapter. I may well have just forgot it. I did some online research earlier and didn't find anything on the topic.
 
Fantastic! Thanks for that reference. I did go back through Mountaineering:Freedom Of The Hills last night. The chapter on pit digging etc does not discuss crystals but one of the appendix sections "The Life Cycle Of Snow" gets into the topic a bit but without measuring and the kind of details like the document you posted. Appreciate the info.
“Freedom of the Hills” is an outdoor bible all should know. It’s a bit behind on the latest Science of Snow and it’s relation to more current information related to the subject of snowpack and avalanches IMO. Yet it is a great starting place to be begin one’s ongoing understanding going forward. Understanding and training only keeps getting better and the learning will never cease.
 
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