Understanding Danger Ratings
No formula fully captures the complexity of mountain hazard assessment. This tool provides a starting point for comparing routes and identifying dominant risk factors. Always supplement quantitative tools with local knowledge, current conditions reports, and your own experience assessment.
The Five Factors Explained
- Slope Angle: The single most important avalanche predictor. Angles above 30° enter avalanche terrain; above 45° even small slides become deadly.
- Exposure: How committed the route is. High exposure means a fall has severe consequences and retreat is difficult or impossible.
- Rock Quality: Determines the reliability of protection placements and the danger of rockfall to those below.
- Weather: Mountain weather changes rapidly. What starts as stable can deteriorate within hours.
- Technical Difficulty: Higher technical grades typically mean more time spent in dangerous terrain, more exposure to objective hazards.
💡 Core PrincipleThe most dangerous route is not necessarily the most technically difficult — it's the one where your group's skill level least matches the objective hazards. A moderate route attempted beyond one's abilities is far more dangerous than a harder route within them.