The Avalanche Handbook

If you have a significant interest in Avalanche science and theory, or are going to take an avalanche course this is the book for you. If you are looking to create advanced Avy skills and/or to become an Avy professional though this is the definative resource on Avalanches. It is required reading for most courses (starting with avy 1).I believe that for most recreational readers this book does at times get "heavy". Its easy to lose interest in this book from time to time as the science overcomes the practical. If you are a weekend backcountry traveler and are looking for a book that will keep your attention and teach you how to travel safely in Avy terrain this book is probably a little much. Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper is a much easier read and has all the most important information from this book. Combined with Snow Sense by Doug Fesler the two books are much more digestible for the average reader and a lot more fun as well.

While this book is not for novices on avalanche safety, it is the best and most comprehensive book on avalanche safety I have ever read. I own virtually every book on avalanche safety published in the U.S. and Canada (owing to teaching avalanche classes in Colorado), and whenever I have a question, this is the first book I pull off the shelf. It’s as close to a definitive resource as any book can be.

This book dive into the different aspects of snow avalanche. Unlike many other avalanche handbooks, this book goes deep into each subject. I used this book when I wrote my master thesis on Snow avalanche research. The only downside is the lack of hands on usable information of snow and stability surveying.

I'm preparing to begin backcountry skiing this upcoming winter and thought this book would be a good place to start learning about avalanche safety. Sadly, the book is almost useless for the backcountry traveller. In fact, I can't imagine the audience for which it would actually be useful. On the one hand much of the book has no application for the backcountry skier - for instance the chapter on engineering structures to protect alpine roads and buildings. On the other hand the information in that chapter is obviously too basic to be of any use to an actual engineer. The subjects that WOULD actually be useful for the backcountry skier - such as snow science, meteorology and avalanche rescue are discussed more from the perspective of professionals within those areas. Again, the information tends to be too detailed for the recreational skier and too general for the professional. For instance, the section on avalanche rescue spends a lot of time discussing the subject from the point of view of a professional rescue team - how to organize a chain of command, how to deploy 1st, 2nd and 3rd rescue parties, how to use dogs. Not much use for a small group of skiers, but probably too superficial for actual professionals. I don't want to give the impression that the book is useless, for instance there's an appendix to Chapter 4 that gives some helpful rules of thumb for avalanche forecasting, but one has to wade through a lot of irrelevant material for that information.

Great book if you are looking for a very scientific explanation of avalanche formation. It reads like a text book unlike some other avalanche safety books on the market.

Informative book with colors so it's more interesting to read.After finishing the class, I ended up keeping it, instead of selling back to the market.

I bought this book because I was taking my avalanche II cert, well turns out, it was canceled. The book seems pretty relevant. It was in great shape when I got it.

Nicely written, full of useful information.

Strong on the physics of avalanche science. Not good for general recretionslist but more for persons wanting to advance their understanding of avalanches.

I was oder the book then they send the book very fist.I am really happy to get the book.

They definitely weren't focused on making this an easy, enjoyable, read. The material is very good, though, and very informative.

Perfect book in every way great read and learnt a heap out of it.

Very insightful for anyone that wants more in depth information