finding the answer to that question is the job of scientists to some petersburg's hydra me to relaunch a cool university one of the factors triggering an avalanche is nothing more unusual than snow evaporation little flakes turn into vapor even at very low temperatures. but with fiber in the top layer of the snow buddy escapes into the air. but in low light as it settles on large snowflakes turns into us. as a result snow in the lowest turns into large round crystals. this makes the top most slide over the ground pellets. the only way to fight it is to get them to move before they begin sliding down.

whenever a weather forecast points to snow instability. to prevent the risk of a. ski boots are closed and the area was cordoned off a modern computer system controls movement gas is fed into a bell suspended from a helicopter an operator then triggers a spark in the belt on the gas explodes the shockwave triggers an avalanche. this method is widely used in the foothills of the caucasus close to the city of sochi russia's most popular ski resort is situated here. all mountains in the world are prone to avalanches and all of them are affected by our lunch every single one. yes the slope is avalanche prone

if it is steeper than fifteen to twenty degrees. the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics is to take place here in new ski lifts are being built a new trails are being prepared the downhill routes varying complexity some are just right for budding skiers others pose a challenge to professional sportsman. the caucasus mountains occupy an area about the same size of an average european country roots provided with all the necessary facilities take up a small part of the slopes so far it is only possible to reach most of the mountain tops by helicopter going downhill where nobody. his set foot is the ambition of many skiers and snowboarders there is a special term for this costly form of entertainment kelly skiing. to get their wish for a while the skiing is what every free rider aspires to it just takes your breath

away to ride down the slope after a helicopter. flies you to some out of the way knock in the mountains. once we've left the helicopter we have to test the snow. so what this means is well we make it picks to see the pattern of snow fall in the last few weeks. if we see that there's a danger of an avalanche happening that day then we just pack up straightaway and go home when the situation is just right though we follow this route down the

mountain. or the wilds of the route the better the snow sure you have so many different routes lying ahead of you so you can choose whichever way you want to go down the mountain pending on the level of skiing your experience in english is how good you are. studying and forecasting avalanches is a complicated process with many phases any forecast supplied by the weather station can never be certain accurate conclusions are made only after testing the snow cover at a particular point. one layer of the snow is compact the other is loose you can see it is fluffy. but you see if i touch this with my finger it is almost uniform i'm going to see how thick it is and there's twenty five centimeters of snow drift. a snow drift is the layer that moves with the wind from one location to

another this type of snow has the weakest bond with the lower layers. when somebody comes to the slope they see such snow but they don't know what it is like underneath it maybe packed a mack case it is not interest but what if it is unstable down there you just step on the snow and it slides away from you if the snow's temperature structure and density are all measured by the specialists to see how the layers bond together they handle the readings right on the spot. where. the test demonstrates that the top layer of the snow drift on the slope is unstable. so it may start sliding when skiis or snowboarders ride over it which could then trigger an avalanche so now we're going to designate the area as hazardous and closed to the public. attention of those of you who are keen to scull mountain peaks please be careful according to the avalanche safety center a heightened alert has been declared for the next two days because of an avalanche

hazard. or is a ski resort within the arctic circle originally it was meant as a place where the people of the town of killed lost could spend their vacations today tourists from across the country come to visit. we were going there for ten days but trouble struck on the second. memories of what happened then also vivid in young's mind but it seems as though it would just yesterday but in fact several years have passed since the accident in many ways that incident changed his life. but if you look at the slope from below you will see a clearing between the trees it is there because frequent avalanches sweep away trees standing in their path i did not know at the time that the slope was avalanche prone. none of the people who came to that slope could even imagine the

outcome. free riders make a special point of looking for wild slopes to ride over virgin snow. for the past ten years you have guinea cliff the cove has taken groups of free riders from the city of to the my my past on the southern shore of lake baikal. the lake lanier could screech in is the world's largest body of fresh water locals call it to see it is fifteen hundred meters deep in places. will cover part of the distance over the ice of lake baikal then it will be several kilometers of a winding path in the mountains another ten kilometers along

a stream gorge. you could say the place is in the wilderness there isn't any electricity or a decent road there it can only be reached either by snowmobile or on foot. on the way to its destination the group registers with the local rescue service. an official of the service and rescue party takes note of its roots the number of people involved and approximate date of the group's return if the group fails to turn up on time rescue teams will undergo a search and rescue operation like all other groups of this kind this one is briefed before it continues its journey. i wish to formally warn you of possible avalanches in the mountains you should be on alert especially after lunch time when warmer weather normally causes snow falls also a storm alert has been declared for tomorrow northwesterly winds of up to twenty

meters a second. a member of the rescue services joins the club because the group they go as far as the foothills where the road ends they then cover ten kilometers across low hills with an all terrain vehicle but before taking a ride from the slopes the group needs to hike uphill on force as no motor vehicles can get up such an incline. we're heading toward slopes hidden from the sun because that's where pax knows likely to be. you may begin moving any time now that's why we'll go skiing on the shady side close to the forests the snow still holds on to push despite the long

hole the group of three riders managed to scale the mountain and go downhill on the first day before some so i.

please. please it's six it'll eat. this. exit. exit except. within the arctic circle is russia's northern most point. being in the mountains

has been hit by an avalanche rescuers of the regional rescue services receive requests for assistance they do not know how long it will take them to reach the scene a lot depends on the terrain and weather conditions they have vivid memories of what happened to a group of skiers from st petersburg a few years ago. is one of those who know all too well the full force of an avalanche feels like. do as i approach the edge to get ready for the descent. i was knocked over with such force from my gloves and hat in the shuttle and everything became unfastened. i sensed i was tumbling down at top speed with an enormous mass of something pressing on me it was like being under a stamping press group but cannot say how long all that lasted through i was told the avalanche was on the move for only four or five seconds but to me it seemed

like an eternity with. enormous blocks of snow and ice reduce everything in the path to smithereens they sweep away trees and destroy buildings at one point i felt as if i was literally bending over backwards with the stress on my spine was so great i thought my back would be broken. then my head was out of the snow. will. i think my lungs had filled up with snow and i strained to cough it up and i remember feeling afterwards that my chest had become lighter the. yann was dug up by a companion who had not been caught up in the avalanche rescuers found three more men buried under the snow they were dead quite often it takes several days to find victims buried in an avalanche for me to long proops they used to dig into the snow this is the only method to find a free rider unless he has a radio beacon on it. when the probe hits something soft it's clear that it's

a victim the sound produced by the probe in that case is also helpful so we begin digging right there and then. fairly sure is a doctor with the local rescue team he always joins the team on duty when they go to help avalanche victims his eight kilogram kit contains all the necessary equipment for on site reanimation though in practice he rarely needs it. according to statistics if victims are stuck in an avalanche be fifteen minutes their chances of survival of fifty percent any longer and there is a sharp drop in the chances of survival. we haven't recovered a buried survivor from an avalanche around here in the past ten years. intense preparations for the winter olympics have cut the number of urgency in the vicinity of. the freeriding the results rescuers will be hard put to recall the

last time they dealt with incidents. and ten ice to counter the snow on the mountain slopes they are the visible part of what is otherwise covered with snow the weather stations days or is continuously supplied to an online computer of the resorts avalanche control. the station measures snow depth temperature humidity wind characteristics solar radiation and atmospheric pressure. and more allowance to forecast avalanches put you in. these odd looking pipes on mountaintops a part of the results of a safety system. failing to so-called shelters booths containing gas cylinders with oxygen propane. no ok

everything's in order here for shelter oxygen and propane is fed to an empty avalanche gun through special pipes and operators sets off the gas mixture by pressing a button. in the old days all resorts use guns or mortars to fight avalanches they would be brought to a slope and fired at a designated target nowadays they're gradually falling into disuse. we have resolved the problem by taking on purely ecological systems used elsewhere in the world. cup they don't damage the ground either in summer or in winter. they simply remove the snow whenever we want to get rid of it or get on. a computer at the avalanche control service receive signal some automatic weather stations twenty four hours a day irrespective of weather conditions the figures are then analyzed. if

necessary the operator uses the same computer to set a small avalanche in motion which cannot do any harm. which as we say any slate compose an avalanche has a. avalanches make even in the most unlikely places that. police skiing enthusiastic take every possible precaution but they can never be fully guaranteed against being caught in an avalanche. and the think if they miss that when you get on the fresh snow it's already under stress but you make things worse by adding your weight to it on top of venice or you cutting the snow with your skis and all my combined might set off an avalanche . normally they go and will do the job himself of testing the snow and if he senses the possibility of an avalanche he might deliberately force the snow to get moving . if the it's

a boy if you cut into the snow in front of me that doesn't mean it won't snap behind he's trudel first break up front little crack behind you to you no matter whether you've done the cutting or somebody else has done it for you if you know what it is what it. scientists in st petersburg have researched the peculiarities of the mountains ice and snow there is also surprising as it turns out an ice rupture generates a radio wave the can be located. i mean the most interesting thing about it is that radio frequency emissions take place shortly before i sharing. this means it's possible to full cost as well as record. but i mean this can be done if only for a short time before just an hour or so you. experiments with snow by the scientists have also demonstrated that during its slide an avalanche to emits radio waves.

sneers nativist that radio missions are generated by small snow crystals rubbing against one another is a resemblance pointing to the existence of radio frequency radiation even in the visible range people have seen light coming from night time avalanches are going. for the time being it is possible to focused avalanches only a few seconds ahead special radio receivers they used for the purpose. mounted on my on the southern side of lake baikal is known for its fluffy snow it is light soft and powdery freeriding fans need to demonstrate highly professional skills in such conditions otherwise one uncertain move may land you waist deep in the snow along the untamed slopes of fraught with numerous risks for the novice.

there you can see a large area covered with snow there were lots of trees there five years ago a big avalanche in december swept away everything in its way. places a constant reminder of the threat posed by avalanches. free riders from neighboring towns have built cabins in the foothills of mount my they spend weekends here there is nothing inside apart from stoves tables and makeshift beds the cabins are almost buried in snow which makes them look like big snow drifts with smoke and chimneys before they get to the mountain top free riders

spend a good deal of time scrambling along with skis on their backs. you may not like it here if you enjoy sliding downhill you're unlikely to enjoy going uphill on foot completely nor are you likely to be very keen to stoke the coals in the stove even during the night here you can leave without wearing snowshoes to cope with it you really need to love it all this landscape this forest this weather and this permanent snowfall. oh

oh .

to a substantial degree and one problem or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow is an approaching a whole different. to leave early twenty first century military bases the network of military bases all around the forms to believe the empire that the united states is trying to build it's astonishing most americans have no idea

there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around us. we don't have foreign bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases are fine are the noises our northeast of those of all the us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the end of world war two the spaces i've been . working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions the other thing else is to get everything you need.

on r t nato says it says strikes could have killed to seven civilians in a botched bombing in tripoli raising questions over the block's plans to pound colonel gadhafi into submission. of the week's other top stories greece's. new band of money rolls up his sleeves to steer the debt stricken countries reforms after fear his public rage against even deeper cuts in after the. americas accuser twisting thailand's new york judge cast doubt on the legality of extraditing him pledge russian arms dealer viktor boot to the states. and the very mystery keeps moving over whether the president will run for a second term as he rounds off the international economic forum and some pages.

hello and welcome you watching r.t. from moscow and our round up of the week's top stories with me kevin and it's just after midnight here now and first mate who admits that it may be responsible for sunday's strike that killed seven civilians including two babies in a residential area in tripoli. nato is looking into reports of civilian casualties following nato airstrikes in the early hours of this morning well the instant spot widespread public outrage is being seized on by gadhafi loyalists who have long painted name two as a ruthless force that is out to destroy libya even so the western military alliance launched more strikes on the capital just hours later as the intervention and as its fourth month now with little to show except deadlock on his roof an emotional reports next from the capital tripoli you may find some of the images coming up in a report that said. the residents of secrecy in my district here in tripoli have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night a bomb or several bombs landed here this story as you can see behind me several

three story buildings quite a densely populated area with buildings standing very close to each other home to many people found them very poor as we were told at least four families have been living in the damaged houses which is from twelve to fourteen people. under the rubble who were able to show children into adults and do one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero some of the people are still missing as you can see behind me the rescue operation is now undergoing but people here on the ground are saying that there is little hope that someone could be alive the buildings on the opposite side of this street have also been partially damaged but we were told that no one from there has been hurt the libyan government spokesperson looked at him aside but he has come to this info plus this.