One thing that is fairly predictable about avalanches is that after a couple of non-freezing nights, avalanche activity is almost certain as Tone said. And once the snow has been saturated with meltwater, the amount of compaction that occurred over the season means nothing. The A-Basin slide that killed a local several years ago was on a bump run.
I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.
--MT--
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