Avalanche problems. What are they and where did they come from? Why do we use them?

Here is an online version of an article we originally published in the Avalanche Review, which is a professional avalanche journal in the U.S. Several years ago, the Utah Avalanche Center came up with the current list of avalanche problems, which we distilled down from a paper presented by Roger Atkins. The avalanche problems and the icons we created have spread to many other avalanche centers in the U.S. and around the world. I was on the committee last summer that came up with the standard definitions of the various avalanche problems last summer and here is a good overview. It is a link to the Outerlocal.com website article.

http://outerlocal.com/skiing/avi-problems-and-public-advisories-outpost

Bruce Tremper