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During an avalanche, a mass of snow, rock, ice, soil, and other material slides swiftly down a mountainside. Avalanches of rocks or soil are often called landslides. Snowslides, the most common kind of avalanche, can sweep downhill faster than the fastest skier. A snow avalanche begins when an unstable mass of snow breaks away from a slope. The snow picks up speed as it moves downhill, producing a river of snow and a cloud of icy particles that rises high into the air. The moving mass picks up even more snow as it rushes downhill. A large, fully developed avalanche can weigh as much as a million tons. It can travel faster than 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour). There are two main types of snow avalanches—sluffs and slabs. Sluff avalanches occur when the weak layer of a snowpack
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