For example, warmer snow temperatures imply faster bond formation due to metamorphism in a potential weak layer thereby increasing stability but warmer tem- peratures in the weak layer also decrease snow stiffness, failure toughness and strength. Fig- ure 1 shows a schematic of the effects and definitions of the terms based on experimental results from slow, direct, simple shear tests on alpine snow. This is the most important temperaturedependentproperty of alpine snow. The stiffness is defined as the initial resistance to defor- mation and this property is closely related to hardness as determined with the hand hardness test in the field. It is equivalent to the area under the stress-strain curve when the peak is reached.
Stiffness is defined as theinitial slope of the stress-strain curve.