WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF

The Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is an interdisciplinary research and service centre in Davos. About 140 employees dedicate their work to research on snow, atmosphere, natural hazards, permafrost, and mountain ecosystems and put their knowledge into practice by developing innovative products.

The SLF belongs to the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and thus to the ETH Domain. It researches various aspects of snow, for example its structure and behaviour under different conditions. Among other things, it investigates how weak points develop in the layers of the snow cover or how different materials (e.g. skis) glide best over the snow.

Additional core competencies of the SLF are investigations on how avalanches develops and how the snow mass moves on different terrain. Natural hazards such as debris flow and rockfall, which are similar in process, as well as permafrost and mountain ecosystems are also among the SLF’s research areas. Furthermore, the researchers focus on integral risk management to optimise protective measures. The SLF also offers various services, such as the avalanche bulletin, advice on avalanche protection measures, expert reports on avalanche accidents and the development of warning systems for natural hazards.

Scientific research, practical work, and public relations have always been going hand in hand at the SLF. Since 1945, when the avalanche warning service of the Swiss army was affiliated to the SLF, the institute has been in the advantageous situation that research and application take place under the same roof.