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60 free Avalanche trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This avalanche trivia quiz covers the science, safety and history of the mountains' most feared hazard. It starts with how avalanches form: weak layers and depth hoar, slab versus loose snow, powder clouds that top 300 km/h, wet snow slides, ice avalanches, wind slabs, the angle of repose and the 38-degree critical slope. Then it turns to survival and rescue: why loud noises do not trigger avalanches, the survival curve that falls from 92 percent to 30 percent in twenty minutes, transceivers at 457 kHz, probes, shovels, airbags, dogs, Gazex exploders and howitzers, and the European and North American danger scales. There are also questions on the notable disasters: the Wellington and Rogers Pass avalanches of March 1910, the tens of thousands of soldiers killed in the Alps in the First World War, the Winter of Terror of 1950-51, Blons, Galtür and Montroc, the Huascarán avalanche of 1970 that buried Yungay, and the Everest tragedies of 2014 and 2015. Some questions any backcountry skier will know; others will test avalanche professionals. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on avalanches, avalanche control and rescue and the individual disasters, and each explanation adds one further detail.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What are the two general forms of avalanche?
Slab and loose snow
Slabs of tightly packed snow release when a weak layer beneath collapses; loose snow avalanches start from a point.
Q 02What is the most common cause of natural avalanches?
Increased load from snowfall during storms
Melting from solar radiation is the second-largest cause; contrary to legend, sound pressure is far too small to trigger one.
Q 03Can a loud sound trigger an avalanche?
No, the pressure is far too small
Skiers, snowmobiles and explosives are real artificial triggers.
Q 04Slab avalanches account for roughly what share of avalanche deaths?
90%
Slabs can range from a few centimetres to three metres thick.
Q 05What is the fracture at the bottom of a slab avalanche called?
Stauchwall
The crown fracture is at the top of the start zone and the flank fractures on the sides.
Q 06Powder snow avalanches can exceed what speed?
300 km/h
They can carry a million tons of snow and even run uphill for short distances.
Q 07Wet snow avalanches typically travel at what speed?
10–40 km/h
They are slow but enormously destructive because of their mass and density.
Q 08An avalanche's starting point typically occurs on a slope of what angle?
30–45 degrees
The track usually runs at 20-30 degrees and the runout zone below 20.
Q 09At what slope angle are human-triggered avalanches most frequent?
38 degrees
Slopes flatter than 25 or steeper than 60 degrees see fewer avalanches.
Q 10What is the rule of thumb about which slopes can avalanche?
Flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski
Normalized for use, hazard rises uniformly with slope angle regardless of exposure direction.
Q 11Which three primary elements of avalanches did Doug Fesler and Jill Fredston identify?
Terrain, weather and snowpack
Terrain is where, weather creates the snowpack, and snowpack is the structure that fails.
Q 12Where relative to a ridge does more snow accumulate, along with wind slabs and cornices?
In its lee
Windward slopes are usually much shallower.
Q 13Which shape of slope is less stable, because of the gap between snow's tensile and compressive strength?
Convex
The difference lies in the disparity between snow's tensile and compressive strength.
Q 21On average, how many people die in avalanches each winter in the United States?
28
From 1950-51 to 2020-21, 1,169 people died in US avalanches.
Q 22Globally, about how many people die in avalanches each year, according to a 2001 report?
150
People caught in avalanches die from suffocation, trauma or hypothermia.
Q 23A 1996 study found what share of recreational-setting avalanches were caused by the victims themselves?
83%
Accidents in residential, industrial and transport settings were all due to natural avalanches.
Q 24A Swiss study of buried skiers found survival drops from 92% within 15 minutes to what after 35 minutes?
Q 14What are the angular, poorly bonding snow crystals formed by a persistent strong temperature gradient called?
Depth hoar or facets
They form when the gradient exceeds 10 °C per vertical metre for more than a day and become a persistent weak layer.
Q 15What do large, angular crystals in the snowpack indicate?
Weakness
They have fewer bonds per unit volume than small rounded crystals that pack tightly.
Q 16What is the term for wind depositing snow parallel to a slope, forming slabs that are hard to spot?
Cross-loading
Top-loading occurs when wind blows over a summit and deposits snow down the lee side.
Q 17When do most avalanches happen?
During or soon after a storm
Rain acts like heavy snowfall, adding load and lubricating layers.
Q 18What are the three parts of an avalanche path?
Start zone, track and runout zone
The debris deposit is the accumulated snow at rest in the runout; trim lines mark paths through forest.
Q 19What is the 'return period' of an avalanche path?
How often avalanches form there
Many small slides run each year without covering the path's full length.
Q 20Which type of terrain is highly unlikely to produce avalanches?
Dense forests
Full-depth avalanches are actually more common on smooth ground like grass or rock.
30%
Chances are near zero after two hours, when victims die of injuries or hypothermia.
Q 25What is considered the minimum equipment for companion rescue?
Beacon, shovel and probe
France's ANENA also recommends Recco reflectors for off-piste skiers.
Q 26Avalanche transceivers operate on which international standard frequency?
457 kHz
It was adopted in 1986; early units transmitted at 2.275 kHz.
Q 27The first effective avalanche transceiver, sold from 1971, carried what brand name?
Skadi
John Lawton invented it at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory; the name comes from the Norse goddess Skaði.
Q 28Explosive avalanche control charges may be delivered by which of these?
Howitzers and helicopters
Hand-tossed charges, Gazex concussion lines and air cannons are also used.
Q 29What is the simplest active preventive measure against avalanches?
Repeatedly travelling on the snowpack as it accumulates
Boot-packing, ski-cutting and machine grooming all disrupt weak layers.
Q 30Landscaped barriers that stop or deflect avalanches with their weight are called what?
Avalanche dams
Rigid steel or concrete snow fences are effective but expensive and unsightly.