ZONING WITH THE AVALANCHE TERRAIN EXPOSURE SCALE

Abstract

During the past three winters over 4000 km 2 of avalanche terrain in five mountain ranges in western Canada was zoned with the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (Statham et al., 2006) at the basin-scale (100 m to 1 km). Because the current ATES system isn't intended for this more deterministic application there are shortfalls with respect to subjectivity of terrain parameters and the lack of a non- avalanche terrain class. Although some digital terrain analysis was used to draw the initial ATES polygons, the methods relied primarily on the judgment of qualified field workers. This paper describes an approach and methodology for ATES zoning, and explores ideas for a more deterministic model including classification for non-avalanche terrain.