9. Is there any way to prevent avalanche?

The answer to this question is “Yes” despite that prevention is sometimes difficult and very expensive. There are a lot of techniques for reducing the effects of snow avalanches. According to application sites, types of avalanches, sizes of effecting area, long-term or short-term results and their costs, these techniques can be classified into two groups:

A) Permanent Prevention Techniques

A.1) Active Permanent Prevention Techniques (Applied in Starting Zone)
Earth Terrace, Reforestation, Pilings, Tripods, Snow Bridges, Snow Nets, Snow (Wind) Fences, Wind, Panels, Wind Baffle, others

Figure 12 - Avalanche protection fences on a mountain slope. It is one of the many active actions against snow avalanche initiation in their potential starting zones. Source: www.flickriver.com

A.2) Passive Permanent Prevention Techniques (Applied in Run-out and Stopping Zones)

Deflecting Wall, Arresting Walls, Avalanche Dams, Splitter, Retarding Mound and Arresting Dike, Avalanche Tunnels, Road Warning Sign and Closure Systems, Building Reinforcement Techniques, Reinforcement Techniques For Substructures.

Figure 13 - Diversion dams used to channelize the snow avalanche to locations where they cannot cause any damage. Picture: Dams Reckingen, SLF 1984. Source: www.planat.ch

B) Temporary Prevention Techniques

B.1) Active Temporary Prevention Techniques

Catex (cable Transporter Explosives), Gaz-Ex (Gaseous Explosives), Hand Charges, Avalhex…

Figure 14: Gaz-ex: fixed high-pressure gas outlet uphill an avalanche-prone area. Whenever a snow pack is unstable, artificially controlled avalanches are triggered by this device in order to prevent disastrous events. Source: www.toraval.fr

B.2) Passive Temporary Prevention Techniques

Snow and Avalanche Observations, Mapping, Evacuation of Avalanche Risk Areas and Forbidden Entrance.