Encounters in Avalanche Country

Encounters in Avalanche Country PDF Author: Diana L. Di Stefano
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804823
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Every winter settlers of the U.S. and Canadian Mountain West could expect to lose dozens of lives to deadly avalanches. This constant threat to trappers, miners, railway workers-and their families-forced individuals and communities to develop knowledge, share strategies, and band together as they tried to survive the extreme conditions of "avalanche country." The result of this convergence, author Diana Di Stefano argues, was a complex network of formal and informal cooperation that used disaster preparedness to engage legal action and instill a sense of regional identity among the many lives affected by these natural disasters. Encounters in Avalanche Country tells the story of mountain communities' responses to disaster over a century of social change and rapid industrialization. As mining and railway companies triggered new kinds of disasters, ideas about environmental risk and responsibility were increasingly negotiated by mountain laborers, at the elite levels among corporations, and in socially charged civil suits. Disasters became a dangerous crossroads where social spaces and ecological realities collided, illustrating how individuals, groups, communities, and corporate entities were all tangled in this web of connections between people and their environment. Written in a lively and engaging narrative style, Encounters in Avalanche Country uncovers authentic stories of survival struggles, frightening avalanches, and how local knowledge challenged legal traditions that defined avalanches as acts of god. Combining disaster, mining, railroad, and ski histories with the theme of severe winter weather, it provides a new and fascinating perspective on the settlement of the Mountain West.

Encounters in Avalanche Country

Encounters in Avalanche Country PDF Author: Diana L. Di Stefano
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804823
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Every winter settlers of the U.S. and Canadian Mountain West could expect to lose dozens of lives to deadly avalanches. This constant threat to trappers, miners, railway workers-and their families-forced individuals and communities to develop knowledge, share strategies, and band together as they tried to survive the extreme conditions of "avalanche country." The result of this convergence, author Diana Di Stefano argues, was a complex network of formal and informal cooperation that used disaster preparedness to engage legal action and instill a sense of regional identity among the many lives affected by these natural disasters. Encounters in Avalanche Country tells the story of mountain communities' responses to disaster over a century of social change and rapid industrialization. As mining and railway companies triggered new kinds of disasters, ideas about environmental risk and responsibility were increasingly negotiated by mountain laborers, at the elite levels among corporations, and in socially charged civil suits. Disasters became a dangerous crossroads where social spaces and ecological realities collided, illustrating how individuals, groups, communities, and corporate entities were all tangled in this web of connections between people and their environment. Written in a lively and engaging narrative style, Encounters in Avalanche Country uncovers authentic stories of survival struggles, frightening avalanches, and how local knowledge challenged legal traditions that defined avalanches as acts of god. Combining disaster, mining, railroad, and ski histories with the theme of severe winter weather, it provides a new and fascinating perspective on the settlement of the Mountain West.

Living (and Dying) in Avalanche Country

Living (and Dying) in Avalanche Country PDF Author: John Marshall
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780963202802
Category : Avalanches
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description


Colorado Avalanche Disasters

Colorado Avalanche Disasters PDF Author: John W. Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Throughout Colorado's history its mountains have been the focus of its economic development but along with the attraction there has been an attendant danger. Avalanches have taken their toll on travelers, miners, and skiers. Avalanches cause more property damage, deaths, and injuries in Colorado than any other state in the Union, including Alaska.In Colorado Avalanche Disasters you will relive the sacrifices, despair, and elation of men, women, and children who faced Colorado's greatest avalanche disasters. These true tales carry the reader throughout the mountains of Colorado -- from the northern ranges to the southern San Juans.John Jenkins graduated from Western State College with a degree in history. He is descended from a pioneering Colorado family -- his being the fourth generation. He has written articles on Colorado history for the Colorado Mountain Club, worked seasonally as a park ranger in Alaska and helped place the American Mountaineering Center in Golden on the National Register of Historic Places. For recreation he enjoys telemark skiing and climbing Colorado's high peaks. This is his first book.

Snowshoe Country

Snowshoe Country PDF Author: Thomas M. Wickman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
An environmental and cultural history of winter in the colonial Northeast, examining indigenous and settler knowledge of life in the cold.

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain PDF Author: Bruce Tremper
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 9780898868340
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : bg
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Winter recreation in the mountains has increased steadily over the past few years, and so has the number of deaths and injuries caused by avalanches. Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain covers everything you need to know to avoid trouble in avalanche terrain: what avalanches are and how they work, common myths, human activities that lead to avalanche trouble, what happens to victims when an avalanche occurs, and rescue techniques. Provides step- by-step instruction for determining avalanche hazards, using safe travel technique, and making effective rescues.

Allen & Mike's Avalanche Book

Allen & Mike's Avalanche Book PDF Author: Mike Clelland
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 076279237X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
With more and more people heading into the winter backcountry on skis, snowshoes, and snowmobiles, avalanche safety is of paramount importance. Allen & Mike's Really Cool Avalanche Safety Book distills the sometimes overly technical information of snow science into a user-friendly format with helpful illustrations and easy-to-understand text. With years of experience as NOLS instructors to draw on, Allen O'Bannon and Mike Clelland team up to give winter recreationists the information they need to stay safe in the backcountry, including how to prepare for your trip, proper equipment and how to use it, snowpack assessment, choosing safe travel routes, decision making, and rescue scenarios. Written for both aspriring winter backcountry travelers and experts alike, this book is a must-read for anybody who loves to experience the solitude and beauty of the snowy mountains.

In the Path of an Avalanche

In the Path of an Avalanche PDF Author: Vivien Bowers
Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd
ISBN: 1550545183
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
On a clear, cold morning in January 1998, in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, six experienced skiers were buried in a massive avalanche. They didn't have a chance. A combination of factors -- steep, open terrain; an unstable winter snow pack; poor weather conditions; and a trigger provided by a handful of backcountry skiers -- made the tragedy, the worst day for avalanche deaths in Canadian history and one of the most tragic in North America, inevitable. This personalized view of an avalanche explores a natural phenomenon that has been, and remains, a force of awesome, unstoppable power. The author also raises questions about risk -- and about what might have enticed a group of knowledgeable, experienced skiers to place themselves in the path of an avalanche.

Avalanche

Avalanche PDF Author: Arthur Roth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


The White Cascade

The White Cascade PDF Author: Gary Krist
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1429905700
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
The never-before-told story of one of the worst rail disasters in U.S. history in which two trains full of people, trapped high in the Cascade Mountains, are hit by a devastating avalanche In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped—but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts. For days, an army of the Great Northern Railroad's most dedicated men—led by the line's legendarily courageous superintendent, James O'Neill—worked round-the-clock to rescue the trains. But the storm was unrelenting, and to the passenger's great anxiety, the railcars—their only shelter—were parked precariously on the edge of a steep ravine. As the days passed, food and coal supplies dwindled. Panic and rage set in as snow accumulated deeper and deeper on the cliffs overhanging the trains. Finally, just when escape seemed possible, the unthinkable occurred: the earth shifted and a colossal avalanche tumbled from the high pinnacles, sweeping the trains and their sleeping passengers over the steep slope and down the mountainside. Centered on the astonishing spectacle of our nation's deadliest avalanche, Gary Krist's The White Cascade is the masterfully told story of a supremely dramatic and never-before-documented American tragedy. An adventure saga filled with colorful and engaging history, this is epic narrative storytelling at its finest.

Avalanche Safety

Avalanche Safety PDF Author: Casey Gardner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artists' books
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"This book is the second in the Avalanche Safety Series. It begins on a cliff. After surviving the avalanche that buried her friend, Stella wrestles with her past as she considers joining an expedition to the Himalaya. How does she trust herself to venture again into wild terrain? Stella leaves her small town and travels into a world imperiled by fascism and looming war. She also finds great beauty and courage. In her encounters with people and places, she reflects on the power and weight of making choices and on the forces influencing desire. Throughout the book, images of dendritic forms, in leaves, rivers, maps, convey how paths branch into new paths with decisive turns."--Artist's website.