Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 20.2
Temporal aspects of ski-touring and snow-shoeing daytime-season matrix
5:00-8:00
8:00-14:00
From 14:00 till night
November-Mid
Fe b r u a r y
ski-touring, snow-shoeing
ski-touring, snow-shoeing
Mid February-March
ski-touring
ski-hiking, snow-shoeing
ski-touring, snow-shoeing
April-May
ski-touring
ski-touring
cannot be found. From the moment that snow of sufficient depth and adequate
conditions (e.g. no/low avalanche risk) is available, the season starts for winter
recreationalists. During the winter of 2005/06 there was not 1 day without any ski-
tourer being active in the area regardless of weather conditions or avalanche risk.
On peak days the number of ski-tourers was approximately 200-400 in some areas.
In these parts of the national park the number of daily winter recreationalists was
almost the same as the number of daily hikers and bikers during summer season.
Moreover, it can be said that ski-touring is not an activity performed from early
morning until afternoon as commonly argued (compare Table
20.1
). For example,
in the last few years the popularity of “moonlight tours” has steadily grown. On
the basis of the collected data and the performance requirements of ski-touring and
snow-shoeing (daylight, temperature, snow conditions, avalanche risk etc.), tempo-
ral use characteristics (concerning day and season) were derived (see Table
20.2
).
20.8 Spatial Presence
Although ski-touring and snow-shoeing do not depend on a trail system, they
follow so-called well-known routes. Spatial data that describe ski-touring and snow-
shoeing routes in Berchtesgaden National Park are available by various sources:
expert knowledge, maps, literature, the Geographic Information System (GIS) of
the national park administration and GPS-mapping on site (see, e.g. Preuss,
2005
).
In Berchtesgaden National Park about 20 (main) ski-tours (including variations) can
be identified (see Fig.
20.3
).
In maps ski-touring ascents and descents are mainly represented by lines. Even
though performing ski-touring leaves a linear trace in landscape, linear geometries
do not meet the demands for analysing ecological problems. More adequate solu-
tions on
spatial-data modelling
are asked. This requires an understanding of the
course of ski-tours: Ascents depend on the landscape (forest, mountain pasture area,
etc.), relief and infrastructure (forest roads, hiking trails). Nevertheless, as the slope
angles increase, the ski-tourer ascending will begin doing so-called “kick-turns” to
change direction. This typically results in a line that climbs at a moderate angle of
20-30
◦
. After each snowfall the ascent trace varies depending on the first person
ascending. Accordingly the “spatial coverage” of ski-tour ascent must be consid-
ered (at least in some segments) as areal. Thus, in these situations polygon features
are the more adequate geometry type. Descending is principally areal and thereby
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