Management of Snow Avalanche Risk in the Ski Areas of the Southern Carpathians–Romanian Carpathians

Snow avalanches represent an undeniable reality in the Southern Carpathians, both as a geomorphological process and as a type of natural hazard with the highest number of fatalities and injuries, and also substantial impact upon forests, highways, and people. This study focuses on the Făgăras massif and on the Bucegi Mountains, representative mountain units in the eastern part of the Southern Carpathians with altitudes surpassing 2500 m, large quantities of snowfall, between 6 and 8 months/year of soil with snow cover, or even 10–11 months/year at high elevations, and a high occurrence of snow avalanches. The importance of management of snow avalanche risk resides in the fact that these mountains have important winter tourism activities. Today, the main management measures on snow avalanche risk are preventive temporary or permanent measures, passive and active defense points of intervention, temporary closure of ski pistes, and the issuance of danger level.