Awesome and destructive forces are unleashed when soil, mud, and snow are on the move. Aimed at ages 7-14, this book looks at the causes and effects, places in danger, and how people cope with these disasters. It features photographs feature famous disasters.

Ben and Zoe must brave sub-zero temperatures and treacherous slopes to find two lost snow leopards.

In an instant, an avalanche can turn a picture-perfect winter scene into a deadly disaster. Huge sheets of snow and ice can race down a mountain at 50 miles (81 kilometers) per hour or faster. Avalanches can toss cars, snap trees, and crush buildings in their path, sometimes burying an entire village in tightly packed snow. With dramatic images and first-hand survivor stories plus the latest facts and figures this book shows you avalanche disasters up close.

Deals comprehensively and practically with effects, causes and behaviour of avalanches, protection of ski areas, highways and villages, and safety and rescue.

Technical yet accessible, The Avalanche Handbook, 3rd Edition, covers the formation, character, effects, and control of avalanches; rescue techniques; and research on understanding and surviving avalanches. Illustrated with nearly 200 updated illustrations, photos and examples, the revised edition offers exhaustive information on contributing weather and climate factors, snowpack analysis, the newest transceiver search techniques, and preventative and protective measures, including avalanche zoning and control. It contains new information on the unique characteristics of alpine snow, snow slab instability, terrain variables, skier triggering of avalanches, and the nature of avalanche motion. Plus brand-new chapters on the elements of backcountry avalanche forecasting and the decision-making process.

Made of snow, ice, and rocks, avalanches can start in a variety of ways, including by people. Readers will explore the causes and effects of different kinds of avalanches through fact-filled and accessible content. Real-life photographs will engage readers while reinforcing the science concepts behind examples of modern, devastating avalanches. Enhanced by interesting fact boxes and timelines of real avalanches, readers will be guided through safety and disaster relief so they’ll be able to act if caught out in the cold when the snow starts to fall.