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There are lot of types of avalanches but two of them are loose-snow avalanche which gathers more and more snow as it descends a mountain. Another type is slab avalanche which is the deadliest and destroys everything on its way; most responsible for the great majority of accidents. There are also powder avalanches and wet snow avalanches

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15y ago

wet avalanche, hard slab avalanche and wind avalanche —Wind Avalanche

—Wind avalanches are the kind of loose powder that skiers love. However, loose powder can either settle into ordinary snow or avalanche. When it avalanches, the snow becomes airborne instead of flowing along the ground. Its light weight allows it to lift in the air, so that clouds of feathery snow can roar down slopes at more than 200 miles per hour. As it moves down mountainsides, pressure builds up in front of the snow mass. So great is this force that the blasts of air can move heavy objects and blow roofs off buildings. Survivors say that the air pressure seemed so great they thought their lungs would burst.

Hard-Slab Avalanche —Slab avalanches are caused by build-ups of old snow that has been packed down and settled for a long time. Hard-slab avalanches start when the top layer of snow breaks up, causing car-sized chunks of ice to come down a mountain at 30 to 50 miles an hour.

—Wet-Slab Avalanche

—Wet-slab avalanches occur commonly on bright, cloudless days in spring when snow is softened by rain. As the bonds between water molecules in the snow weaken, an entire slope can begin to slide. Wet-slab avalanches move much slower, creeping along at 5 to 10 miles per hour, picking up boulders, trees, and earth along the way. These accumulate into a dirty wall of debris where the mass stops moving.

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Q: What are the different avalanches?
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