Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard Paperback – October 1, 2011

An outstanding, small and concise handbook which succeeds in giving the reader a sound, step by step understanding of the avalanche phenomena. Methods to assess the snow and avalanche conditions are clearly explained. Tips to best understand the risks and danger in traveling through avalanche terrain are explained, as is how to conduct an avalanche self or party rescue. The authors unparalleled experience in the study and teaching of avalanches and their consequences makes this handbook a necessity if you are new to the game, and a very worthwhile addition to the experts' library. There is not a word wasted!

My friend recommended I read this prior to our hut-to-hut ski trip in Colorado. I cannot say enough good things about this little book. So concise, so sensible, so obviously informed by decades and decades and decades of first-hand experience. Really great pictures, too, to illustrate points. Advocates for a risk-assessment process that everyone could stand to read and understand and adopt, whether you're a wilderness guide, a recreationist, or just an urban dweller with absolutely no plans to visit snowy places.

This book is a great entry level guide to understanding how snow pack affects travelers. The weather conditions, people traffic, and terrain all contribute to avalanche factors. How will you plan an outing- snowshoeing, snowboarding, skiing, sledding etc.? Are you and the people in your group prepared for conditions, and ready in case of an emergency? Do you practice rescue techniques in case on an emergency?All this and more is cover in this book to prepare for back country snow travel in avalanche zones.

This book has always been recommended in any snow, avalanche or rescue training courses I have attended. There are good reasons for the recommendation. It works well to prep you for a course or as a refresher to pull out before the snow season. Much of it is common sense but then common sense is not so common anymore. Belongs on the shelf(and needs to be taken off and used) of every winter backcountry user regardless of your mode of transportation.

I liked this guide because the authors engaged a very difficult subject and distilled it down to the "must knows" very quickly, yet with solid coverage.The first part of the book discusses the various aspects involved in making slopes "avalanche prone".The second part provides an excellent field guide "how to" for evaluating snow conditions. The techniques are well explained, charts are comprehensive yet easy to understand/use, and the photos tell the story well.I would recommend this to anyone wanted to be a bit safer in the mountains. I have already recommended it to all my AT skiing pals.

A winter backcountry classic. If more skiers and riders read it and followed its guidance my job as a volunteer Search and Rescue team member in Colorado would be a lot easier. In my seven years of responding to avalanche missions, NOT a single one has been for "rescue" of a living person; they've ALL been for "recovery" of the body. NEVER go into the winter backcountry alone, and ALWAYS carry an avalanche beacon, probe pole, and metal-bladed shovel with you, ensuring that EVERYONE in your party does likewise. Perhaps most importantly, ensure that everyone ... you, too ... knows how to use them. Best that you never get caught in an avalanche, but if you are, your best (sometimes your ONLY) chance for survival lies with your friends' ability to quickly find you and to dig you out before you freeze or suffocate, assuming, of course, that you weren't already dead because you were smashed into a tree or a boulder during your "ride" downhill.

The book is pretty well illustrated which is a big help. There really was an effort to explain something in detail and then put a simple review sheet at the end of every chapter. If needed someone could rip these review sheets out and stick them in a pack. I would have liked to see more avoidance tips but i guess there is only so much that can be said.

This is an excellent supplement to the seminal book on Avalanches - Bruce Tremper's "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain" (buy the second edition of Tremper's book).Based on the course reading curriculum by Jonathan Shefftz (http://avycourse.blogspot.com/), whom I regularly follow on wildsnow.com and tetongravityresearch.com/forums, I purchased this book, and " Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering".Jonathan's recommendation is good enough for me.