It is not unusual for avalanches to be in the news in the northern hemisphere at this time of year, the height of the annual ski season.
But Tuesday's deadly incident in California, which took the lives of eight skiers and left one more unaccounted for, and the difficult situation in much of the Alps - where there have been more fatalities than usual this year - has put a spotlight on avalanches and how prepared winter sports enthusiasts should be for them.
The two situations would seem to be very different. California has been coming out of a so-called snow drought and experts do not consider the latest snowfall exceptional.
But droughts followed by intense snow can cause problems - the new snow is unable to bind to old snow underneath, which can either be very hard or non-existent, and therefore remains loose.
Europe, however, has seen two major storms in a week and a large amount of heavy snow combined with strong winds, leading to high avalanche warning levels across an unusually large part of the Alps. Three Britons were among dozens killed in incidents so far over the season.
