Today, the Xinjiang Kanas Scenic Area Management Committee issued a notice:
Tourists and friends:
Recently, Kanas Scenic Area has ushered in continuous heavy snowfall, with more than 70 cm of snowfall in local areas, coupled with a large range of temperature fluctuations, unstable snow layers, and a very high risk of avalanches. At about 12 o'clock on February 13, 2024, 2 tourists skied wild snow outside the trail without authorization, causing a small avalanche, causing 4 snowmen to be covered by avalanche snow. After emergency rescue, no casualties were caused.
Please pay attention to the warning of dangerous areas when skiing, obey the management of the ski resort, and avoid avalanches, falls and other safety accidents. In order to ensure your safety to the greatest extent, it is forbidden to ski wild snow outside the specified area of the ski resort in the Kanas Scenic Area.
Kanas Scenic Area Management Committee
February 13, 2024
Recently, Xinjiang Kanas Scenic Area has encountered continuous heavy snowfall. From 18:00 on February 11, 2024 to 15:00 on the 12th, a total of 13 avalanches occurred in the G219 National Highway, S232 Line, and X852 Line sections in Kanas Scenic Area.
Relevant departments have rushed through a number of roads, and more than 2,000 people have left the scenic spot in an orderly manner.
At 18 o'clock on February 12, the section of the S232 line from Jia Dengyu to Burjin County, the X852 line from Hemu Village to Burjin County, the G219 Hanas Village to Baihaba Village and the direction of Haba River County has one-way traffic conditions, and the S232 line from Hanas Village to Jia Dengyu is still rushing through. On the afternoon of the 12th, led by the traffic police department, more than 500 vehicles and more than 2,000 people have left the scenic spot in a safe and orderly manner.
According to the forecast of the meteorological department, from February 14th to 19th, Altay will usher in heavy snowfall, strong winds, wind-blown snow and extremely strong cold wave weather process, and traffic control will be carried out in Kanas scenic area in a timely manner.
What is an avalanche and how can I save myself?
1. What is an avalanche
To put it simply, an avalanche is a large area of snow falling down a hillside.
There are many types of avalanches, and they can be very harmful, some are easy to predict and some are difficult to detect. Usually we divide avalanches into two categories: pine powder avalanches and hard thick avalanches, each of which can be wet or dry. The most dangerous avalanches are dry, hard, thick avalanches, which cause the heaviest casualties. But avalanches of any kind can cause casualties and should not be taken lightly.
It is terrible to encounter an avalanche, especially in the case of a hard and thick avalanche, a large area of hard snow around you can quickly slide down at a speed of 70-80km/h, and the person trapped in it will lose all control, there will be no support under their feet, no force at all, stumbling and rolling directionlessly, unable to see anything, it is very likely to be carried down a cliff or hit a tree, and it is impossible to break free from it.
Avalanches have a very high fatality rate and occur in a variety of activities related to snow-capped mountains.
More than 90% of avalanches are human-triggered, either by the skier themselves or by other partners who are skiing together. However, this also shows that the occurrence of avalanches is generally not random, but controllable. Since we can trigger avalanches, we can also minimize avalanches by learning a little about avalanches.
2. How avalanches form
In winter, the snow is one after another, and there are many layers of snow on the snowy mountains. Due to the difference in ambient temperature, humidity, sunshine, and wind direction, some snow layers are softer, while others are harder.
We can't see what the snow layer below is like from the snow, and when we pass over the snow, there is a possibility that an avalanche will be triggered.
The layering of snow on a real mountain is much more complicated than this, and when the hard snow layer is on top of the soft snow layer, it waits silently for someone to slide over it, and there is a chance to trigger an avalanche.
Let's show you another video of triggering an avalanche. The skater was very lucky, and if he had gone a little further down, he would have been swept into an avalanche:
There are 4 essential elements for an avalanche to occur, and without any of them, an avalanche will not occur:
1. Upper layer of hard and thick snow
2. Soft snow layer underneath
3. Enough slope to slide
4. Triggered behavior
Of these 4 elements, the only thing we can control is the slope. It is safer to choose a slope that is not likely to trigger an avalanche. Nature is kidding us, the coolest slope for skiing is precisely the slope with the highest probability of avalanche occurring.
3. Where avalanches are more likely
Some avalanches are obvious in the terrain, but avalanches can actually occur anywhere there is a snow fall.
The avalanches we usually pay attention to mostly occur outside the snow fields on the snowy mountains and in the wild snow.
North America and Europe have different definitions of the non-Dao category. In North America, "off-road" usually refers to a place where there are no patrols outside of the ski resort.
Sometimes we hear the sound of explosions in the snowy mountains, but in fact, the patrol team is blowing up the snow by means of explosions, actively triggering all possible avalanches to eliminate hidden dangers.
The slope of the mountain is necessary for avalanches to occur, and a slope of 30-45 degrees is the most prone to avalanches. This also happens to be the slope of the middle and advanced trails in each ski resort.
In the terrain shown below, the most likely area to trigger avalanches is the mountain in the middle shade, with a slope of about 39 degrees, just in the middle of the slope of the avalanche high.
Avalanches are powerful and can slide far away. So even if you're on flat terrain, if there's a steep slope just a short distance above, you can still be buried by an avalanche.
And you don't necessarily need to be on the top of a slope to trigger an avalanche. Even if you've already slid down a long distance, there's still a chance of triggering an avalanche that starts at the top of the slope.
Source: Orange Persimmon Interactive, Kanas Zero Distance