An avalanche is a terrifying event. No other natural disaster strikes with the suddenness of snow crashing down a steep slope. One moment a mountainside can be a picture of beauty and peace as a soft snow blanket glistens silently under a brilliant winter sun. The next moment it can be a foaming, roaring, boiling mass of snow that annihilates everything in its path.

Every avalanche can be broken down into three main phases. The first phase is the fracture zone. This is the point at which the snowpack breaks away from the slope, thus beginning the avalanche. The higher up on a slope the fracture zone appears, the larger the avalanche is likely to be. The next phase is the gully or the chute. This is the path that the avalanche takes on its way down, where...