[ a v a l a n c h e s   :   t h e   l e g e n d ]

What flies without wings, hits without hands, and sees without eyes? The White Dragon, or avalanche. In Europe, this old riddle has been told since the Middle Ages, when the first mountain settlers braved cold winters and the dangerous waves of snow. The people also called it the White Death, sent by demons and witches that rode on the white surges.

Some of the earliest reports of avalanches come from Hannibal’s famous march across the Alps in 218 B.C. Crossing over the high mountains with troops and elephant trains to fight against the Roman armies, the general lost thousands of men and animals to disease, cold, and avalanches.

In 1800, Napoleon crossed the Great St. Bernard Pass in the Alps with his army. Whole legions of men were buried beneath 50 feet of snow. During World War I, men fighting in the Tyrolean Mountains lost more numbers to avalanches than bullets - more than 40,000 passed away between 1915 and 1918.

The word "avalanche" comes from the French word for "descent," in reference to the descent of snow, ice, rocks, or earth that rushes down slopes.

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