(Rocfi^ (mountain Tl^onbetCanb 



down, often knock hesitating snow-drifts into 

 action. A fitting name for those slides that 

 regularly run at the close of winter would be 

 Spring, or Annual. These are composed of the 

 winter's local accumulation of snow and slide 

 rock, and carry a much heavier percentage of 

 rock-debris than the Storm slide carries. They 

 transport from the starting-place much of the 

 annual crumbling and the weatherings of air 

 and water, along with the tribute pried off by 

 winter's ice levers; with this material from the 

 heights also goes the year's channel accumula- 

 tion of debris. The Annual slide does man but 

 little damage and, like the Flood slide, it fol- 

 lows the gulches and the water-courses. 



In snowy zones the avalanche is commonly 

 called a snow-slide, or simply a slide. A slide, 

 with its comet tail of powdered snow, makes an 

 intense impression on all who see one. It ap- 

 pears out of order with the scheme of things; 

 but, as a matter of fact, it is one of gravity's 

 working ways, a demonstration of the laws of 

 sliding bodies. A smooth, steep slope which 

 receives a heavy fall of snow will promptly 



88 



