Show HOW AVALANCHE IN SWISS ALPS DESTROYS ALL THINGS j A mountain climber in fit discuss ing the accounts of recent avalanches in fit the southern alps resulting in destruction and death says the cause of these sudden descents la Is not far to seek on the higher slopes there have been six or eight weeks of clear almost uninterrupted frosts which have caused the existing snow to become loose and powdery now under pressure of tho the recent heavy falls of fresh snow tills booso under snow no v has given way and vast masses of it gathering volume every moment are plunging down the mountain sides overwhelming sheep and unfortunate tourists and burying all that comes in their path this type of 0 powdery avalanche serious enough to life and limb Is as nothing compared with the real avalanche built up of accumulations of 3 sj snow that may have commenced years yeara ago these vast accumulations occur on the plateaus or less steep t inclines the pressure of each h succeeding seasons snow tu turns the under snow to ice and f winter after winter the mass S increases in weight and volume I 1 A moment arrives when owing either to pressure from higher levels or the mass growing so BO immense it overcomes any resistance that holds it or i E due to an exceptionally mild summer the lowest stratum galst the mountain at elde e 1 Is S melted and a sort of water cushion ts la formed upon which th the wh whole 0 to glides forward 4 nere there are other causes but fo for some me reason such as these tho 1119 colossal maa commences to move slowly 1 downward toward the valley if the pace Is slow tt it to Is known as aa a creeping avalanche and can be kept uni der constant observation there 3 Is little immediate danger from it and peasants and farmers farmer nean can b be warned of the approaching peril t sometimes however an aval alche of this type will within a c few hours of having become loosened loog ened burl itself downward with the speed of an express train and a noise exceeding all i imagination nothing con can with stand it forms farms and home fire are swept away or burled forests of fir ir and pine are crashed down or carried away like so BO much straw cattle me rocks railways are all carried before tt it until either it comes to rest in lower levels or hurls hurl s itself over perpendicular walls of rock into the valleys bej neath 2 |