What causes avalanches, and can you survive them? - Simon Trautman

Explore the three conditions needed to trigger an avalanche, and what makes these natural disasters so hard to survive. -- Avalanches are the rapid descent of snow, ice, rock, or a combination of these down a slope. They can be destructive natural disasters and personal tragedies: killing an average of 27 people annually in the US. These alpine nightmares don’t just awaken out of nowhere; they need three specific conditions. So, what causes an avalanche? And is there any way to survive? Simon Trautman investigates. Lesson by Simon Trautman, directed by Denys Spolitak. Support Our Non-Profit Mission ---------------------------------------------- Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreon Check out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop ---------------------------------------------- Connect With Us ---------------------------------------------- Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletter Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebook Find us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitter Peep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram ---------------------------------------------- Keep Learning ---------------------------------------------- View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-causes-avalanches-and-can-you-survive-them-simon-trautman Dig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-causes-avalanches-and-can-you-survive-them-simon-trautman/digdeeper Animator's website: https://vimeo.com/denysspolitak Music: https://www.wonderboyaudio.com ---------------------------------------------- Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Hoai Nam Tran, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, and Filip Dabrowski.