This article refers to the natural event. For other uses, see Avalanche (disambiguation)

A powder snow avalanche in the Himalayas near Mount Everest.

The toe of an avalanche in Alaska's Kenai Fjords.

Dry snow avalanche with a powder cloud

Dry snow snow avalanche with a powder cloud

An avalanche (also called a snowslide or snowslip) is a sudden, drastic flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers, such as loading from new snow or rain, or artificial triggers, such as snowmobilers, explosives or backcountry skiers, overload the snowpack. The influence of gravity on the accumulated weight of newly fallen uncompacted snow or on thawing older snow leads to avalanches which may be triggered by earthquakes, gunshots and the movements of animals. Avalanches are most common during winter or spring but glacier movements may cause ice avalanches during summer. Avalanches cause loss of life and can destroy settlements, roads, railways and forests. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the descending snow. Powerful avalanches have the capability to entrain ice, rocks, trees, and other material on the slope. Avalanches are primarily composed of flowing snow, and are distinct from mudslides, rock slides, and serac collapses on an icefall. Avalanches are not rare or random events and are endemic to any mountain range that accumulates a standing snowpack. In mountainous terrain avalanches are among the most serious objective hazards to life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry an enormous mass of snow rapidly over large distances.

Avalanches are classified by their morphological characteristics and are rated by either their destructive potential, or the mass of the downward flowing snow. Some of the morphological characteristics used to classify avalanches include the type of snow involved, the nature of the failure, the sliding surface, the propagation mechanism of the failure, the trigger of the avalanche, the slope angle, slope aspect, and elevation. The size of an avalanche, its mass and its destructive potential are rated on a logarithmic scale, typically of 5 categories, with the precise definition of the categories depending on the observation system or geographic region in which the avalanche occurs.

Avalanche formation and classification[link]

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Most of the time, avalanches are caused by external stress on the snowpack; natural events are not random or spontaneous events. Natural triggers of avalanches include additional precipitation, rapid warming, rock fall, ice fall, and other impulse loads; however, even when environmental conditions are consistent, the seasonal snowpack will evolve over time and develop stresses, often from the downslope creep of the snowpack. Artificial triggers of avalanches include skiers, snowmobiles, and controlled explosive work. The triggering stress usually causes an avalanche at the location where force is directly applied to the snowpack (local trigger), but can in some cases cause avalanche formation at a different location nearby (remote trigger). Remotely triggered avalanches occur when a disturbance is transmitted from one location in the snowpack to another location in the snowpack. Small avalanches sometimes trigger much larger avalanches: for example, a small avalanche may apply significant overburden pressure to the snowpack, disturbing deeper weaknesses, and a larger avalanche may form as a result. This phenomenon is referred to as "stepping down".

A number of the forces acting on a snowpack can be readily determined. For example, there is little problem in calculating the weight of the snow, which provides information about the load on a weak layer. However, other factors are much more difficult to determine. It is very difficult to estimate the shear, ductile and tensile strengths within the snowpack or relative to the ground below. These strengths vary with the hardness of the snow, type of snow crystal, the number of bonds per unit volume, and the strength of contact interfaces between the layers.^[1] The thermo-mechanical properties of the snow crystals in turn depend on the local conditions such as ambient air temperature that control moisture transport inside the snowpack. One of the aims of avalanche research is to develop and validate computer models that can describe the evolution of the seasonal snowpack over time.^[2] A complicating factor is the chaotic interaction of terrain and weather, which causes significant spatial and temporal variability of the depths, crystal forms, and layering of the seasonal snowpack.

Classifications[link]

The nature of the failure of the snowpack is used to morphologically classify the avalanche. To this point, there are two main types of avalanches: loose snow avalanches and slab avalanches, and either type of avalanche can involve dry or wet snow. For this reason, professionals refer to avalanches as "dry loose snow avalanches", "wet loose snow avalanches", "dry slab avalanches", and "wet slab avalanches". The primary distinction between wet and dry avalanches is the presence of liquid water in the snow at the time of avalanche formation.^[1]

Loose snow avalanches[link]

Loose snow avalanches, most common in steeper terrain, often occur in freshly fallen, low-density surface snow, or in older surface snow that has been softened by strong solar radiation. In loose snow avalanches, the release usually starts at a point and the avalanche gradually widens as it travels down the slope and entrains more snow. The characteristic shape of a loose snow avalanche is usually described as resembling a teardrop.^[1] Large, loose snow avalanches may cause slab avalanches.

Slab avalanches[link]

Slab avalanches form frequently in new snow, wind deposited snow, and, less frequently, in old snow, and have the characteristic appearance of a block of snow cut out from its surroundings by fractures. Elements of slab avalanches include the following: a crown fracture at the top of the start zone, flank fractures on the sides of the start zones, and a fracture at the bottom called the stauchwall. The crown and flank fractures are vertical walls in the snow delineating the snow that was entrained in the avalanche from the snow that remained on the slope.

Slab avalanches, which account for around 90% of avalanche-related fatalities, form when the application of dynamic forces causes catastrophic structural failure inside a weakness below a slab of snow. Energy for fracture propagation is provided by gravity as the slab falls onto the weak layer. This cascade of failures causes one layer of snow to delaminate from the layer of snow below, enabling gravity to pull the delaminated slab downhill.^[3] Fracture propagation can be widespread, sometimes traveling for hundreds of meters, and in some cases kilometers, and can involve snow depths ranging from 10 centimeters to five or six metres. Avalanches that form when the failure occurs between the base of the snowpack and the ground are known as full depth slab avalanches.

Among the largest and most powerful of avalanches, dry slab avalanches can exceed speeds of 300 km/h, and masses of 10,000,000 tonnes; their flows can travel long distances along flat valley bottoms and even uphill for short distances. A powder snow avalanche is a turbulent cloud of snow and air that forms when an avalanche travels over an abrupt change in slope angle, such as a cliff band. Powder snow avalanches may also form when the powder cloud of a dry slab avalanche continues moving after the core of the avalanche has stopped.^[1]

Types of slab avalanches[link]

There are two main types of slab avalanches, "soft slab avalanches", and "hard slab avalanches". Both types of avalanches are denoted by debris morphology^[1]: the debris from a soft slab avalanche is highly granular, resembling a slurry of snowballs and ice grain paste, and the debris from a hard slab avalanche is angular, often featuring pieces of the original slab that did not break up during descent. Avalanches that descend significant vertical or horizontal distances may create debris that is not suitable for classification purposes.

Terrain, snowpack, weather[link]

Doug Fesler and Jill Fredston developed a conceptual model of the three primary elements of avalanches: terrain, weather, and snowpack. Terrain describes the places where avalanches occur, weather describes the meteorological conditions that create the snowpack, and snowpack describes the structural characteristics of snow that make avalanche formation possible.^[1][4]

Terrain[link]

In steep avalanche-prone terrain, traveling on ridges is generally safer than traversing the slopes.

Avalanche formation requires a slope where snow can accumulate, yet has enough steepness for the snow to accelerate once set in motion by the combination of mechanical failure (of the snowpack) and gravity. The angle of the slope that can hold snow, called the angle of repose, depends on a variety of factors such as crystal form and moisture content. Some forms of drier and colder snow will only stick to lower angle slopes; while wet and warm snow can bond to very steep surfaces. In particular, in coatstal mountains, such as the Cordillera del Paine region of Patagonia, deep snowpacks collect on vertical, and overhanging, rock faces. The angle of slope that can allow moving snow to accelerate depends on a variety of factors such as the snow's shear strength, which is itself dependent upon crystal form, and the configuration of layers and inter-layer interfaces.

A cornice of snow about to fall. Cracks in the snow are visible in area (1). Area (3) fell soon after this picture was taken, leaving area (2) as the new edge.

The snowpack on slopes with sunny exposures is strongly influenced by sunshine. Diurnal cycles of thawing and refreezing can stabilize the snowpack by promoting settlement. Strong freeze thaw cycles result in the formation of surface crusts during the night, and the formation of unstable surface snow during the day. Slopes in the lee of a ridge or other wind obstacle accumulate more snow and are more likely to include pockets of deep snow, wind slabs, and cornices, all of which, when disturbed, may result in avalanche formation. Conversely the snowpack on a windward slope is often much shallower than on lee slopes.

The start zone of an avalanche must be steep enough to allow snow to accelerate once set in motion, additionally convex slopes are less stable than concave slopes, because of the disparity between the tensile strength of snow layers and their compressive strength. The composition and structure of the ground surface beneath the snowpack influences the stability of the snowpack, either being a source of strength or weakness. Avalanches are unlikely to form in very thick forests, however boulders and sparsely distributed vegetation can create weak areas deep within the snowpack, through the formation of strong temperature gradients. Full-depth avalanches (avalanches that sweep a slope virtually clean of snow cover) are more common on slopes with smooth ground cover, such as grass or rock slabs.

Generally speaking, avalanches follow drainages down slope, frequently sharing drainage features with summertime watersheds. At and below tree line, avalanche paths through drainages are well defined by vegetation boundaries called trim lines, which occur where avalanches have removed trees and prevented regrowth of large vegetation. Engineered drainages, such as the avalanche dam on Mount Stephen in Kicking Horse Pass, have been constructed to protect people and property, by redirecting the flow of avalanches. Deep debris deposits from avalanches will collect in catchments at the terminus of a run out, such as gullies, and river beds.

Slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a lower incidence of avalanche involvement. Human triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of repose is between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which human-triggered avalanches are most frequent, is 38 degrees. But when the incidence of human triggered avalanches are normalized by the rates of recreational use hazard increases uniformly with slope angle, and no significant difference in hazard for a given exposure direction can be found.^[5] The rule of thumb is: A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle.

Avalanche paths[link]

Avalanche paths in alpine terrain may be poorly-defined because of limited vegetation. Below treeline, avalanche paths are often delineated by vegetative trim lines created by past avalanches.

Avalanche path with 800 m vertical fall in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington State. The start zone is visible near the top of the image, the track is in the middle of the image and clearly denoted by vegetative trimlines, and the runout zone is shown at the bottom of the image. One possible timeline is as follows: an avalanche forms in the start zone near the ridge, and then descends the track, until coming to rest in the runout zone.

Avalanches and avalanche paths share common elements: a start zone where the avalanche originates, a track along which the avalanche flows, and a runout zone where the avalanche comes to rest. The debris deposit is the accumulated mass of the avalanched snow once it has come to rest in the runout zone. For the image at left, many small avalanches form in this avalanche path every year, but most of these avalanches do not run the full vertical or horizontal length of the path. The frequency with which avalanches form in a given area is known as the return period.

Snowpack structure and characteristics[link]

After surface hoarfrost becomes buried by later snowfall, the buried hoar layer can be a weak layer upon which upper layers can slide.

The snowpack is composed of ground-parallel layers that accumulate over the winter. Each layer contains ice grains that are representative of the distinct meteorological conditions during which the snow formed and was deposited. Once deposited, a snow layer continues to evolve under the influence of the meteorological conditions that prevail after deposition.

For an avalanche to occur, it is necessary that a snowpack have a weak layer (or instability) below a slab of cohesive snow. In practice the formal mechanical and structural factors related to snowpack instability are not directly observable outside of laboratories, thus the more easily observed properties of the snow layers (e.g. penetration resistance, grain size, grain type, temperature) are used as index measurements of the mechanical properties of the snow (e.g. tensile strength, friction coefficients, shear strength, and ductile strength). This results in two principal sources of uncertainty in determining snowpack stability based on snow structure: First, both the factors influencing snow stability and the specific characteristics of the snowpack vary widely within small areas and time scales, resulting in significant difficulty extrapolating point observations of snow layers across different scales of space and time. Second, the relationship between readily observable snowpack characteristics and the snowpack's critical mechanical properties has not been completely developed.

While the deterministic relationship between snowpack characteristics and snowpack stability is still a matter of ongoing scientific study, there is a growing empirical understanding of the snow composition and deposition characteristics that influence the likelihood of an avalanche. Observation and experience has shown that newly fallen snow requires time to bond with the snow layers beneath it, especially if the new snow falls during very cold and dry conditions. If ambient air temperatures are cold enough, shallow snow above or around boulders, plants, and other discontinuities in the slope, weakens from rapid crystal growth that occurs in the presence of a critical temperature gradient. Large, angular snow crystals are an indicator weak snow, because such crystals have fewer bonds per unit volume than small, rounded crystals that pack tightly together. Consolidated snow is less likely to slough than loose powdery layers or wet isothermal snow; however, consolidated snow is a necessary condition for the occurrence of slab avalanches, and persistent instabilities within the snowpack can hide below well-consolidated surface layers. Uncertainty associated with the empirical understanding of the factors influencing snow stability leads most professional avalanche workers to recommend conservative use of avalanche terrain relative to current snowpack instability.

Weather[link]

After digging a snow pit, it is possible to evaluate the snowpack for unstable layers. In this picture, snow from a weak layer has been easily scraped away by hand, leaving a horizontal line in the wall of the pit.

Avalanches can only occur in a standing snowpack. Typically winter seasons at high latitudes, high altitudes, or both, have weather that is sufficiently unsettled and cold enough for precipitated snow to accumulate into a seasonal snowpack. Continentality, reflected by the distance from the moderating effects of oceans, is another important factor.^[6] The evolution of the snowpack is critically sensitive to small variations within the narrow range of meteorological conditions that allow for the accumulation of snow into a snowpack. Among the critical factors controlling snowpack evolution are: heating by the sun, radiational cooling, vertical temperature gradients in standing snow, snowfall amounts, and snow types. Generally, mild winter weather will promote the settlement and stabilization of the snowpack; and conversely very cold, windy, or hot weather will weaken the snowpack.

At temperatures close to the freezing point of water, or during times of moderate solar radiation, a gentle freeze-thaw cycle will take place. The melting and refreezing of water in the snow strengthens the snowpack during the freezing phase and weakens it during the thawing phase. A rapid rise in temperature, to a point significantly above the freezing point of water, may cause avalanche formation at any time of year.

Persistent cold temperatures can either prevent new snow from stabilizing or destabilize the existing snowpack. Cold air temperatures on the snow surface produce a temperature gradient in the snow, because the ground temperature at the base of the snowpack is usually around °C, and the ambient air temperature can be much colder. When a temperature gradient greater than 10 °C change per vertical meter of snow is sustained for more than a day, angular crystals called depth hoar or facets begin forming in the snowpack because of rapid moisture transport along the temperature gradient. These angular crystals, which bond poorly to one another and the surrounding snow, often become a persistent weakness in the snowpack. When a slab lying on top of a persistent weakness is loaded by a force greater than the strength of the slab and persistent weak layer, the persistent weak layer can fail and generate an avalanche.

Any wind stronger than a light breeze can contribute to a rapid accumulation of snow on sheltered slopes downwind. Wind slab forms quickly and, if present, weaker snow below the slab may not have time to adjust to the new load. Even on a clear day, wind can quickly load a slope with snow by blowing snow from one place to another. Top-loading occurs when wind deposits snow from the top of a slope; cross-loading occurs when wind deposits snow parallel to the slope. When a wind blows over the top of a mountain, the leeward, or downwind, side of the mountain experiences top-loading, from the top to the bottom of that lee slope. When the wind blows across a ridge that leads up the mountain, the leeward side of the ridge is subject to cross-loading. Cross-loaded wind-slabs are usually difficult to identify visually.

Snowstorms and rainstorms are important contributors to avalanche danger. Heavy snowfall will cause instability in the existing snowpack, both because of the additional weight and because the new snow has insufficient time to bond to underlying snow layers. Rain has a similar effect. In the short-term, rain causes instability because, like a heavy snowfall, it imposes an additional load on the snowpack; and, once rainwater seeps down through the snow, it acts as a lubricant, reducing the natural friction between snow layers that holds the snowpack together. Most avalanches happen during or soon after a storm.

Daytime exposure to sunlight will rapidly destabilize the upper layers of the snowpack if the sunlight is strong enough to melt the snow, thereby reducing its hardness. During clear nights, the snowpack can re-freeze when ambient air temperatures fall below freezing, through the process of long-wave radiative cooling, or both. Radiative heat loss occurs when the night air is significantly cooler than the snowpack, and the heat stored in the snow is re-radiated into the atmosphere.

Dynamics[link]

When a slab avalanche forms, the slab disintegrates into increasingly smaller fragments as the snow travels downhill. If the fragments become small enough the outer layer of the avalanche, called a saltation layer, takes on the characteristics of a fluid. When sufficiently fine particles are present they can become airborne and, given a sufficient quantity of airborne snow, this portion of the avalanche can become separated from the bulk of the avalanche and travel a greater distance as a powder snow avalanche.^[7] Scientific studies using radar, following the 1999 Galtür avalanche disaster, confirmed the hypothesis that a saltation layer forms between the surface and the airborne components of an avalanche, which can also separate from the bulk of the avalanche.^[8]

Driving a (non-airborne) avalanche is the component of the avalanche's weight parallel to the slope; as the avalanche progresses any unstable snow in its path will tend to become incorporated, so increasing the overall weight. This force will increase as the steepness of the slope increases, and diminish as the slope flattens. Resisting this are a number of components that are thought to interact with each other: the friction between the avalanche and the surface beneath; friction between the air and snow within the fluid; fluid-dynamic drag at the leading edge of the avalanche; shear resistance between the avalanche and the air through which it is passing, and shear resistance between the fragments within the avalanche itself. An avalanche will continue to accelerate until the resistance exceeds the forward force.^[9]

Modelling[link]

Attempts to model avalanche behaviour date from the early 20th century, notably the work of Professor Lagotala in preparation for the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix.^[10] His method was developed by A. Voellmy and popularised following the publication in 1955 of his Ueber die Zerstoerungskraft von Lawinen (On the Destructive Force of Avalanches).^[11]

Voellmy used a simple empirical formula, treating an avalanche as a sliding block of snow moving with a drag force that was proportional to the square of the speed of its flow:^[12]

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He and others subsequently derived other formulae that take other factors into account, with the Voellmy-Salm-Gubler and the Perla-Cheng-McClung models becoming most widely used as simple tools to model flowing (as opposed to powder snow) avalanches.^[10]

Since the 1990s many more sophisticated models have been developed. In Europe much of the recent work was carried out as part of the SATSIE (Avalanche Studies and Model Validation in Europe) research project supported by the European Commission^[13] which produced the leading-edge MN2L model, now in use with the Service Réstitution Terrains en Montagne (Mountain Rescue Service) in France, and D2FRAM (Dynamical Two-Flow-Regime Avalanche Model), which was still undergoing validation as of 2007.^[14]

Human involvement with avalanches[link]

United States Forest Service avalanche danger advisories.

Snow fences in Switzerland

Avalanche blasting in French ski resort Tignes (3,600 m)

Prevention[link]

Preventative measures are employed in areas where avalanches pose a significant threat to people, such as ski resorts and mountain towns, roads and railways. There are several ways to prevent avalanches and lessen their power and destruction; active preventative measures reduce the likelihood and size of avalanches by disrupting the structure of the snowpack; passive measures reinforce and stabilize the snowpack in situ. The simplest active measure is by repeatedly traveling on a snowpack as snow accumulates; this can be by means of boot-packing, ski-cutting, or machine grooming. Explosives are used extensively to prevent avalanches, by triggering smaller avalanches that break down instabilities in the snowpack, and removing over burden that can result in larger avalanches. Explosive charges are delivered by a number of methods including hand tossed charges, helicopter dropped bombs, Gazex concussion lines, and ballistic projectiles launched by air cannons and artillery. Passive preventive systems such as Snow fences and light walls can be used to direct the placement of snow. Snow builds up around the fence, especially the side that faces the prevailing winds. Downwind of the fence, snow buildup is lessened. This is caused by the loss of snow at the fence that would have been deposited and the pickup of the snow that is already there by the wind, which was depleted of snow at the fence. When there is a sufficient density of trees, they can greatly reduce the strength of avalanches. They hold snow in place and when there is an avalanche, the impact of the snow against the trees slows it down. Trees can either be planted or they can be conserved, such as in the building of a ski resort, to reduce the strength of avalanches.

To mitigate the effect of avalanches, artificial barriers can be very effective in reducing avalanche damage. There are several types. One kind of barrier (snow net) uses a net strung between poles that are anchored by guy wires in addition to their foundations. These barriers are similar to those used for rockslides. Another type of barrier is a rigid fence-like structure (snow fence) and may be constructed of steel, wood or pre-stressed concrete. They usually have gaps between the beams and are built perpendicular to the slope, with reinforcing beams on the downhill side. Rigid barriers are often considered unsightly, especially when many rows must be built. They are also expensive and vulnerable to damage from falling rocks in the warmer months. In addition to industrially manufactured barriers, landscaped barriers, called avalanche dams stop or deflect avalanches with their weight and strength. These barriers are made out of concrete, rocks or earth. They are usually placed right above the structure, road or railway that they are trying to protect, although they can also be used to channel avalanches into other barriers. Occasionally, earth mounds are placed in the avalanche's path to slow it down. Finally, along transportation corridors, large shelters, called snow sheds, can be built directly in the slide path of an avalanche to protect traffic from avalanches.

Safety in avalanche terrain[link]

• Terrain management - Terrain management involves reducing the exposure of an individual to the risks of traveling in avalanche terrain by carefully selecting what areas of slopes to travel on. Features to be cognizant of include not under cutting slopes (removing the physical support of the snowpack), not traveling over convex rolls (areas where the snowpack is under tension), staying away from weaknesses like exposed rock, and avoiding areas of slopes that expose one to terrain traps (gulleys that can be filled in, cliffs over which one can be swept, or heavy timber into which one can be carried).

• Group management - Group management is the practice of reducing the risk of having a member of a group, or a whole group involved in an avalanche. Minimize the number of people on the slope, and maintain separation. Ideally one person should pass over the slope into an area protected from the avalanche hazard before the next one leaves protective cover. Route selection should also consider what dangers lie above and below the route, and the consequences of an unexpected avalanche (i.e., unlikely to occur, but deadly if it does). Stop or camp only in safe locations. Wear warm gear to delay hypothermia if buried. Plan escape routes. In determining the size of the group balance the hazard of not having enough people to effectively carry out a rescue with the risk of having too many members of the group to safely manage the risks. It is generally recommended not to travel alone, because there will be no-one to witness your burial and start the rescue. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with use; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur.^[5] Most important of all practice good communication within a group including clearly communicating the decisions about safe locations, escape routes, and slope choices, and having a clear understanding of every members skills in snow travel, avalanche rescue, and route finding.

• Risk Factor Awareness - Risk factor awareness in avalanche safety requires gathering and accounting for a wide range of information such as the meteorological history of the area, the current weather and snow conditions, and equally important the social and physical indicators of the group.

• Leadership - Leadership in avalanche terrain requires well defined decision-making protocols that use the observed risk factors. These decision-making frameworks are taught in a variety of courses provided by national avalanche resource centers in Europe and North America. Fundamental to leadership in avalanche terrain is honestly assessing and estimating the information that was ignored or overlooked. Recent research has shown that there are strong psychological and group dynamic determinants that lead to avalanche involvement.

Control measures: In many areas, regular avalanche tracks can be identified and precautions can be taken to minimise damage, such as the prevention of development in these areas, the construction of avalanche sheds over existing roads and railways and the use of tunnels for new road and rail links. Avalanches cause danger when their path cannot be predicted and are a major hazard for skiers and mountaineers.

Human survival and avalanche rescue[link]

Notable avalanches[link]

Two avalanches occurred in March 1910 in the Cascade and Selkirk Mountain ranges; On March 1 the Wellington avalanche killed 96 in Washington State, United States. Three days later 62 railroad workers were killed in the Rogers Pass avalanche in British Columbia, Canada.

During World War I, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died as a result of avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front, many of which were caused by artillery fire.^[15][16] Some 10,000 men, from both sides, lost their lives in avalanches in December 1916.^[17] However, it is very doubtful avalanches were used deliberately at the tactical level as weapons; more likely they were simply a side effect to shelling enemy troops, occasionally adding to the toll taken by the artillery. Avalanche prediction is nearly impossible; forecasters can only assert the conditions, terrain and relative likelihood of slides with the help of detailed weather reports and from localized snowpack observation. It would be almost impossible to predict avalanche conditions many miles behind enemy lines, making it impossible to intentionally target a slope at risk for avalanches. Also, high priority targets received continual shelling and would be unable to build up enough unstable snow to form devastating avalanches, effectively imitating the avalanche prevention programs at ski resorts.

In the northern hemisphere winter of 1950-1951 approximately 649 avalanches were recorded in a three month period throughout the Alps in Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. This series of avalanches killed around 265 humans and was termed the Winter of Terror.

In 1993, the Bayburt Üzengili avalanche killed 60 individuals in Üzengili in the province of Bayburt, Turkey.

A large avalanche in Montroc, France, in 1999, 300,000 cubic metres of snow slid on a 30° slope, achieving a speed of 100 km/h (60 mph). It killed 12 people in their chalets under 100,000 tons of snow, 5 meters (15 ft) deep. The mayor of Chamonix was convicted of second-degree murder for not evacuating the area, but received a suspended sentence.^[18]

The small Austrian village of Galtür was hit by the Galtür avalanche in 1999. The village was thought to be in a safe zone but the avalanche was exceptionally large and flowed into the village. Thirty-one people died.

A mountain climbing camp on Lenin Peak, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, was wiped out in 1990 when an earthquake triggered a large avalanche that overran the camp.^[19] Forty-three climbers were killed.^[20]

An avalanche in the Siachen glacier in the Himalaya mountains buried at least 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians in April 2012.^[21]

European avalanche risk table[link]

In Europe, the avalanche risk is widely rated on the following scale, which was adopted in April 1993 to replace the earlier non-standard national schemes. Descriptions were last updated in May 2003 to enhance uniformity. ^[1]

In France, most avalanche deaths occur at risk levels 3 and 4. In Switzerland most occur at levels 2 and 3. It is thought that this may be due to national differences of interpretation when assessing the risks.^[22]

Risk Level	Snow Stability	Flag	Avalanche Risk
1 - Low	Snow is generally very stable.		Avalanches are unlikely except when heavy loads [2] are applied on a very few extreme steep slopes. Any spontaneous avalanches will be minor (sluffs). In general, safe conditions.
2 - Limited	On some steep slopes the snow is only moderately stable [1]. Elsewhere it is very stable.		Avalanches may be triggered when heavy [2] loads are applied, especially on a few generally identified steep slopes. Large spontaneous avalanches are not expected.
3 - Medium	On many steep slopes [1] the snow is only moderately or weakly stable.		Avalanches may be triggered on many slopes even if only light loads [2] are applied. On some slopes, medium or even fairly large spontaneous avalanches may occur.
4 - High	On most steep slopes [1] the snow is not very stable.		Avalanches are likely to be triggered on many slopes even if only light loads [2] are applied. In some places, many medium or sometimes large spontaneous avalanches are likely.
5 - Very High	The snow is generally unstable.		Even on gentle slopes, many large spontaneous avalanches are likely to occur.

[1] Stability:

• Generally described in more detail in the avalanche bulletin (regarding the altitude, aspect, type of terrain etc.)

[2] additional load:

• heavy: two or more skiers or boarders without spacing between them, a single hiker or climber, a grooming machine, avalanche blasting.
• light: a single skier or snowboarder smoothly linking turns and without falling, a group of skiers or snowboarders with a minimum 10 m gap between each person, a single person on snowshoes.

Gradient:

• gentle slopes: with an incline below about 30°.
• steep slopes: with an incline over 30°.
• very steep slopes: with an incline over 35°.
• extremely steep slopes: extreme in terms of the incline (over 40°), the terrain profile, proximity of the ridge, smoothness of underlying ground.

European avalanche size table[link]

Avalanche size:

North American Avalanche Danger Scale[link]

In the United States and Canada, the following avalanche danger scale is used. Descriptors vary depending on country.

Danger Scale - English

Canadian classification for avalanche size[link]

The Canadian classification for avalanche size is based upon the consequences of the avalanche. Half sizes are commonly used.^[23]

United States classification for avalanche size[link]

See also[link]

Research centres[link]

• Colorado Avalanche Information Center
• WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF
• University of Calgary Avalanche Research
• University of British Columbia Avalanche Research Group

Related flows[link]

• Landslide
• Mudflow
• Pyroclastic flow
• Debris flow
• Slush flow
• Lahar
• Gravity current

Famous avalanche disasters[link]

• Galtür Avalanche
• Montroc
• Siachen Glacier

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• McClung, David. Snow Avalanches as a Non-critical, Punctuated Equilibrium System: Chapter 24 in Nonlinear Dynamics in Geosciences, A.A. Tsonsis and J.B Elsner (Eds.), Springer, 2007
• Mark the Mountain Guide: Avalanche!: a children's book about an avalanche that includes definitions & explanations of the phenomenon.
• Daffern, Tony: Avalanche Safety for Skiers, Climbers and Snowboarders, Rocky Mountain Books, 1999, ISBN 0-921102-72-0
• Billman, John. "Mike Elggren on Surviving an Avalanche". Skiing magazine Feb 2007: 26.
• McClung, David and Shaerer, Peter: The Avalanche Handbook, The Mountaineers: 2006. 978-0-89886-809-8
• Tremper, Bruce: Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, The Mountaineers: 2001. ISBN 0-89886-834-3
• Munter, Werner: Drei mal drei (3x3) Lawinen. Risikomanagement im Wintersport, Bergverlag Rother, 2002. ISBN 3-7633-2060-1 (German) (partial English translation included in PowderGuide: Managing Avalanche Risk ISBN 0-9724827-3-3)
• Shiva P. Pudasaini and Kolumban Hutter: Avalanche Dynamics: Dynamics of Rapid Flows of Dense Granular Avalanches, Springer, Berlin, New York, 2007. ISBN 3-540-32686-3
• Michael Falser: Historische Lawinenschutzlandschaften: eine Aufgabe für die Kulturlandschafts- und Denkmalpflege In: kunsttexte 3/2010, unter: http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/kunsttexte/2010-3/falser-michael-1/PDF/falser.pdf

Notes[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

External links[link]

Media related to Avalanche at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Avalanche chute at Wikimedia Commons

• The Avalanche Education Project
• Surviving an Avalanche - A guide for children and youth
• Avalanche Awareness
• Avalanche Defense Photographs
• Canadian Avalanche Association
• CBC Digital Archives – Avalanche!
• Colorado Avalanche Information Center
• Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies
• Directory of European avalanche services
• Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
• sportscotland Avalanche Information Service
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Avalanche". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.  But note the myths cited above.
• Evidence of heuristic traps in recreational avalanche accidents by Ian McCammon, National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, WY, USA

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (May 2011)

Matthias Giraud also known as "Super Frenchie" ( born on September 24, 1983) is a professional skier and B.A.S.E. jumper. He was born in Evreux, France and grew up skiing at St Gervais-les-Bains/ Megeve, France. His first highly publicized accomplishment was the first ski B.A.S.E. jump off Mississippi Head on Mt Hood, Oregon. Matthias Giraud started as a competitive ski racer, but moved on to freeskiing and later on big mountain skiing. Matthias Giraud is known for combining BASE jumping with skiing and completed several first descents and ski BASE jumps across the globe including the first ski BASE jump off the Matterhorn in Switzerland. He is also known for escaping an avalanche off Aiguille Croche in Megeve, France while performing a ski BASE jump with his friend Stefan Laude. Matthias Giraud currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

Career accomplishments[link]

• 2011:

First person to ski BASE jump off the Matterhorn, Switzerland - First Wingsuit flight from the State of Washington, USA to the State of Oregon, USA

• 2010:

Ski BASE jump off the Eiger West wall into the North face, Switzerland; First ski BASE jump off Ingram Peak, Telluride, Colorado, USA

• 2009:

First Descent and ski BASE jump off Aiguille Croche, Megeve, France; First person to ski BASE jump off Ajax Peak, Telluride, Colorado, USA

• 2008:

CNN Headline News - Video segment Voted “Best of Year”; First person to ski BASE jump off Mt Hood, Oregon, USA; First descent and ski BASE jump off Engineer Mountain South Face, Colorado, USA; First BASE jump while wearing a 360 camera with Miles Daisher.

• 2007:

Cover of SKI magazine; 7th Stihl Colorado Freeride Series (Aspen, Colorado, USA); Semi-finalist US Extreme Freeskiing Championships (Crested Butte, Colorado, USA); Forerunner US Freeskiing Open (Telluride, USA)

Publications & Media Coverage[link]

• CNN Headline News
• ABC - Good Morning America
• National Geographic TV
• Weather Channel
• Fox News
• ABC News
• NBC News
• Ski Magazine
• Skiing Magazine
• The Ski Journal
• Backcountry Magazine
• Skydiving Magazine
• Ski Canada
• Ski & Board (UK)
• Skipass.com
• SBC Skier
• ESPN Freesking
• WIDSIX TV

Media Testimonials[link]

“I’ve worked with Matthias Giraud on numerous projects over the last three years, and have found him to be hardworking, professional, and enthusiastic. Matthias possesses a rare mixture of natural physical talent, unbelievable enthusiasm and energy, and the ability to work with a team to accomplish incredible goals. He understands the needs surrounding the projects he works on, and makes sure that everyone is taken care of. Matty is incredibly focused and diligent, and we always look forward to any opportunity to work with him.”

John Trousdale, Inside Durango TV

“Matthias rocks! Ok, so that phrase is over-used, but it couldn’t be more appropriate for an adventurer like this. It’s rare to find someone so out-going, ready-for-anything and just down right fun. He’s the ultimate professional when it comes to being interviewed on television. He knows exactly the sound bite to give that will actually be used in stories, he generates a genuine excitement in viewers, is loyal to his sponsors, and engaging. Not to mention… the camera loves his charming French smile! I’m always hounding him to hurry up and take the next plunge on some crazy adventure because this guy is great for ratings!”

Anita Kissee, KATU-TV Anchor, ABC Network

“As a producer for National Geographic Television I recently completed a profile of extreme sports adventurer Matthias Giraud. On camera he grabs your attention with his passion for his sport and life. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he is captivating to watch whether jumping off a cliff or recounting his life’s experiences. Matthias is a great communicator and storyteller. He maintains a love for adventure and fun, while being thoroughly professionally in his work. He was helpful both creatively working in story development and also in completing legal contracts. I would look forward to working with him in the future”.

April Chabries, Producer, National Geographic Television

References[link]

1. CNN Headline News - Best of the Year
2. Good Morning America 2008
3. Skier makes daring base jump off Mount Hood
4. Special camera puts viewers in the adventure
5. Skipass.com Aiguille Croche Video
6. Man BASE jumps off Engineer
7. Extreme Skier Jumps Off Cliff, Films Avalanche
8. Smith Optics The Lounge
9. Ski B.A.S.E. Jumper Matthias Giraud

External links[link]

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]
• [4]

Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Leonard Norman Cohen
Born	(1934-09-21) 21 September 1934 (age 77) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Folk, folk rock, rock, pop rock, spoken word, synthpop
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, poet, novelist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer
Years active	1956-present
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	Sharon Robinson, Jennifer Warnes, Phil Spector, John Lissauer

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships.^[1] Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.

While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."^[2]

Early life[link]

Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. He attended Roslyn Elementary School. His mother, Marsha Klinitsky,^[3] of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland.^[4][5] He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."^[6] Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry.^[7] He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.^[7] As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar as a teenager, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."^[7]

Poetry and novels[link]

In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union and won the Chester MacNaughton Prize for Creative Writing for a series of four poems titled "Thoughts of a Landsman." He graduated in 1955 with a B.A. degree.^[7] His literary influences during this time included William Butler Yeats, Irving Layton, Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca and Henry Miller.^[8] His first published book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), was published by Louis Dudek (who taught poetry at McGill and was a mentor to Cohen) as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student. The book contained "poems written largely when Cohen was between the ages of fifteen and twenty," and Cohen dedicated the book to his late father.^[7] The famous and influential Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye wrote a review of the book in which he gave Cohen "restrained praise."^[7]

After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and then a year (1956-7) at the School of General Studies at Columbia University. Cohen described his graduate school experience as "passion without flesh, love without climax".^[9] Consequently, Cohen left New York and returned to Montreal in 1957, working various odd jobs and focusing on the writing of fiction and poetry, including the poems for his next book, The Spice-Box of Earth (1961), which was the first book that Cohen published through the Canadian publishing company McClelland & Stewart. Fortunately, his father's will provided him with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions for the time, and The Spice-Box of Earth was successful in helping to expand the audience for Cohen's poetry, helping him reach out to the poetry scene in Canada, outside the confines of McGill University. The book also helped Cohen gain critical recognition as an important new voice in Canadian poetry. One of Cohen's biographers, Ira Nadel, stated that "reaction to the finished book was enthusiastic and admiring. . .[noting that] the critic Robert Weaver found it powerful and declared that Cohen was 'probably the best young poet in English Canada right now.'"^[7]

Cohen continued to write poetry and fiction throughout much of the 1960s and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances after he bought a house on Hydra, a Greek island in the Saronic Gulf. While living and writing on Hydra, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). His novel The Favourite Game was an autobiographical bildungsroman about a young man who discovers his identity through writing. Beautiful Losers received a good deal of attention from the Canadian press and stirred up controversy because of a number of sexually graphic passages.^[7] In 1966 Cohen also published Parasites of Heaven, a book of poems. Both Beautiful Losers and Parasites of Heaven received mixed reviews and sold few copies.^[7]

Subsequently, Cohen published less, with major gaps, concentrating more on recording songs. In 1978, he published his first book of poetry in many years, Death of a Lady's Man (not to be confused with the album he released the previous year with the similar title, Death of a Ladies' Man). It wasn't until 1984 that Cohen published his next book of poems, Book of Mercy, which won him the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry. The book contains 50 prose-poems, influenced by the Bible, Torah, and Zen-Buddhist writings. Cohen himself referred to the pieces as "prayers".^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, Cohen published Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, and in 2006, after 10 years of delays, additions and rewritings, Book of Longing. During the late 1990s and 2000s, many of his poems were first published on his fan website The Leonard Cohen Files ^[10][11]

Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."^[12]

In 2011, Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for literature.

Recording career[link]

1960s and 1970s[link]

In 1967, disappointed with his lack of financial success as a writer, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer-songwriter. During the 1960s, he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol's "Factory" crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style.^[13] His song "Suzanne" became a hit for Judy Collins and was for many years his most covered song. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records representative John H. Hammond. At this time, Cohen recorded at least one demo acetate (possibly for some subsidiary of Polygram^[14]), supported by his close companion at the time, Joni Mitchell.

Cohen's first album was Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967). Although Hammond was originally supposed to produce the record, he became sick and was replaced by the producer John Simon.^[7] Unfortunately, Simon and Cohen clashed over instrumentation and mixing. Cohen wanted the album to have a spare sound, but Simon felt that the songs could benefit from arrangements that included strings and horns. According to biographer Ira Nadel, although Cohen was able to make changes to the mix, some of Simon's additions "couldn't be removed from the four-track master tape."^[7] Nevertheless, the album became a cult favorite in the US, as well as in the UK, where it spent over a year on the album charts.^[15] Several of the songs on that first album were covered by other popular folk artists, including James Taylor, and Judy Collins. Cohen followed up that first album with Songs from a Room (1969) (featuring the often-recorded "Bird on the Wire") and Songs of Love and Hate (1970). Both of these albums were produced in Nashville by famed producer Bob Johnston, who helped Cohen achieve the sparer sound that he'd been after on his first album; Johnston also joined Cohen on two subsequent live tours, playing organ and piano.^[16]

In 1970, Cohen toured for the first time, with dates in the United States, Canada and Europe, and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival. He toured again in Europe and Israel in 1972 with some of the same band-mates, including Charlie Daniels and his producer Bob Johnston. Both tours were represented on the Live Songs LP, while Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 was released in 2009. The 1972 tour was also filmed by Tony Palmer; the film Bird on a Wire (with which Cohen was unhappy) was shown re-cut under Cohen's guidance in 1974, but released only in 2010, reconstructed according to Palmer's original version.

In 1971, Cohen's music was used in the soundtrack to Robert Altman's film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. When Cohen was on a stay in Nashville, Altman phoned to ask permission to use some tracks off Songs of Leonard Cohen. Coincidentally, earlier that same day, Cohen had seen Altman's then-current film Brewster McCloud in a local theater. He hadn't paid attention to the credits so when Altman asked permission to use Cohen's songs in his new film, Cohen had to ask him who he was. Altman mentioned his hit film MASH, but Cohen had never heard of it. When Altman mentioned his lesser-known Brewster McCloud, Cohen replied, "Listen, I just came out of the theater. I saw it twice. You can have anything of mine you want!"^[7]

Beginning around 1974, Cohen's collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by the critics. They toured together in 1974 in Europe, and in US and Canada in late 1974 and early 1975, in support of Cohen's record New Skin for the Old Ceremony. In late 1975 Cohen performed a short series of shows in the US and Canada with a new band, in support of his Best Of release. However, none of the recordings from the three live tours with John Lissauer were ever officially released.

In 1976 Cohen, now without Lissauer, embarked on a new major European tour, with a new band and major changes in his sound and arrangements, again, in support of his The Best of Leonard Cohen release (in Europe retitled as Greatest Hits). One of the band members was Laura Branigan, and the set-list included unreleased songs "Everybody's Child" (a.k.a. "Blessed Is the Memory") and "Storeroom" (both released as bonus tracks to 2007 reissue of Songs of Leonard Cohen), and the new song "Do I Have to Dance All Night?" (which was released as a single with the song "The Butcher" in a single available in Europe only).^[17] From April to July, Cohen gave 55 shows, including his first appearance at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival.

After the European tour of 1976, Cohen again attempted a new change in his style and arrangements - his new 1977 record, Death of a Ladies' Man (one year later, in 1978, Cohen also released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title, Death of a Lady's Man), was co-written and produced by Phil Spector, known as the inventor of the "wall of sound" technique, which backs up pop music with many layers of instrumentation, an approach very different from Cohen's usually minimalist instrumentation. The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty—Spector reportedly mixed the album in secret studio sessions, and Cohen said Spector once threatened him with a crossbow. Cohen thought the end result "grotesque,"^[18] but also "semi-virtuous."^[19] The record was released by Spector's label, Warner, and was returned to Columbia's Cohen catalogue in the late 1980s. Cohen did not take part in the album's promotion, but in his tours of 1979, 1980 and 1985, he performed two songs from the album, "Memories" and "Iodine". However, Cohen chose not to include any of the album's songs on his later compilations More Best of Leonard Cohen and The Essential Leonard Cohen.

In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz and Oriental and Mediterranean influences. Beginning with this record, praised in 2001 by Cohen as his favourite,^{[citation needed]} Cohen began to co-produce his albums. Produced by Cohen and Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell's sound engineer), Recent Songs included performances by Passenger, an Austin-based jazz-fusion band that met Cohen through Mitchell. The band helped Cohen create a new sound by featuring instruments like the oud, the Gypsy violin and the mandolin. The album was supported by Cohen's major tour with the new band, and Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson on the backing vocals, in Europe in late 1979, and again in Australia, Israel and Europe in 1980. The tour was filmed by Harry Rasky as The Song of Leonard Cohen, and the film was broadcast on television in 1980.^{[citation needed]} Cohen also gave a couple of major TV appearances in 1979, including German's ZDF television.^{[citation needed]} In 2000 Columbia released an album of live recordings of songs from the 1979 tour, entitled Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979; the album (with a different track list) was originally rejected by the label in 1980.

During 1970s, Cohen toured twice with Jennifer Warnes as a back-up singer (in 1972 and 1979). Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums, receiving full co-vocals credit on Cohen's 1985 album Various Positions (although the record was released under Cohen's name, the inside credits say "Vocals by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes"). In 1987, she recorded an album of Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat.^[20]

1980s[link]

Leonard Cohen in 1988.

In early 1980s, Cohen co-wrote the rock musical film Night Magic with Lewis Furey, starring Carole Laure and Nick Mancuso (voice-over by Furey); the LP was released in 1985. At that time, Cohen also worked on an unfinished album of his poetry recitations with producer Henry Lewy, before turning back to John Lissauer. Lissauer produced Cohen's next record Various Positions, which was released in late 1984. The LP included "Dance Me to the End of Love", which was promoted by Cohen's first video clip, directed by French photographer Dominique Issermann, and the frequently covered "Hallelujah". Columbia declined to release the album in the United States. Cohen supported the release of the album with his biggest tour to date, in Europe and Australia, and with his first tour in Canada and United States since 1975. Anjani Thomas, who would become Cohen's partner, and a regular member of Cohen's recording team, joined his touring band. The band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Roskilde Festival. They also gave a series of highly emotional and politically controversial concerts in Poland, which was under martial law and performed the song "The Partisan," regarded as the hymn of the Polish Solidarity movement.^[21] During the 80s, almost all Cohen's songs were performed in Polish language by Maciej Zembaty.^[22]

In 1986, Cohen appeared in the episode "French Twist" of the TV series Miami Vice. In 1987, Jennifer Warnes's tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat helped restore Cohen's career in the US. The following year he released I'm Your Man, which marked a drastic change in his music. Synthesizers ruled the album and Cohen's lyrics included more social commentary and dark humor. The album, self-produced by Cohen, remains one of Cohen's most acclaimed albums, and was promoted by iconic black and white video shot by Dominique Issermann at the beach of Normandy. Cohen supported the record with series of television interviews, and an extensive tour of Europe, Canada and US. Many shows were broadcast on European and US television and radio stations, while Cohen performed for the first time in his career on PBS's Austin City Limits show; he also performed at the Roskilde Festival again, among other dates.^[23] The tour gave the basic structure to typical Cohen's concert which he used in his tours in 1993, 2008–09 and 2010. The selection of performances from the late 1980s was released in 1994 on Cohen Live. None of the concerts was released in its entirety, although some were bootlegged. Parts of one of three Royal Albert Hall concerts were used in BBC documentary The Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen, which was released on laser disc and video tape.

1990s[link]

The use of the album track "Everybody Knows" (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped expose Cohen's music to a younger audience. The song also featured prominently in fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan's 1994 film, Exotica. In 1992, Cohen released The Future, which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie Natural Born Killers, which helped Cohen reach a younger audience in the United States.

As with I'm Your Man, the lyrics on the The Future were dark, and made references to political and social unrest. The title track is reportedly a response to the L.A. unrest of 1992. Cohen promoted the album with two music videos, for "Closing Time" and "The Future", and supported the release with the major tour through Europe, United States and Canada, with the same band as in his 1988 tour, including a second appearance at the PBS's Austin City Limits. Some of the Scandinavian shows were broadcast live on the radio. The selection of performances, mostly recorded on the Canadian leg of the tour, was released on 1994 Cohen Live album, but none of the new songs from the album itself were included in the live album.

In 1993 Cohen also published his book of selected poems and songs, Stranger Music, on which he had worked since 1989. It includes a number of new poems from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1997, Cohen oversaw the selection and release of More Best of Leonard Cohen album, which included a previously unreleased track, "Never Any Good", and an experimental piece "The Great Event". The first was left over from Cohen's unfinished mid-1990s album, which was announced to include songs like "In My Secret Life" (already recited as song-in-progress in 1988) and "A Thousand Kisses Deep",^[24] both later re-worked with Sharon Robinson for 2001 album Ten New Songs.

In 1994, Cohen retreated to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles, beginning what became five years of seclusion at the center.^[20] In 1996, Cohen was ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and took the Dharma name Jikan, meaning "silence". He served as personal assistant to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Japanese songwriter and poet Masato Tomobe stated he admires Cohen and this made him better recognized in Japan around this time.

Although around 2000 there was a public impression that Cohen would not resume recording or publishing, he returned to Los Angeles in May 1999. He began to contribute regularly to The Leonard Cohen Files fan website, emailing new poems and drawings from Book of Longing and early versions of new songs, like "A Thousand Kisses Deep" in September 1998^[25] and Anjani Thomas's story sent on 6 May 1999, the day they were recording "Villanelle for our Time"^[26] (released on 2004 Dear Heather album). The section of The Leonard Cohen Files with Cohen's online writings has been titled "The Blackening Pages".^[27]

2000s[link]

[edit] Post-monastery records: Ten New Songs, Dear Heather and Anjani's Blue Alert

After two years of production, Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, featuring a heavy influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson. The album, recorded at Cohen's and Robinson's home studios, includes the song "Alexandra Leaving", a transformation of the poem "The God Abandons Antony", by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy. The album was a major hit for Cohen in Canada and Europe, and he supported it with the hit single "In My Secret Life" and accompanying video shot by Floria Sigismondi.

In October 2004, Cohen released Dear Heather, largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse (and current romantic partner) Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returned to collaborate on three tracks (including a duet). As light as the previous album was dark, Dear Heather reflects Cohen's own change of mood - he has said in a number of interviews that his depression has lifted in recent years, which he attributed to Zen Buddhism. In an interview following his induction into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, Cohen explained that the album was intended to be a kind of notebook or scrapbook of themes, and that a more formal record had been planned for release shortly afterwards, but that this was put on ice by his legal battles with his ex-manager. He decided not to promote the album at all, but in 2005 he released a home video accompanying the song "Because Of", shot by his daughter Lorca Cohen, while there were no official album singles.

Blue Alert, an album of songs co-written by Anjani and Cohen, was released on 23 May 2006 to positive reviews. Sung by Anjani, who according to one reviewer "...sounds like Cohen reincarnated as woman...though Cohen doesn't sing a note on the album, his voice permeates it like smoke."^[28] The album includes a recent musical setting of Cohen's "As the mist leaves no scar", a poem originally published in The Spice-Box of Earth in 1961 and adapted by Phil Spector as "True Love Leaves No Traces" on Death of a Ladies' Man album. Blue Alert also included Anjani's own version of "Nightingale", performed by her and Cohen on his Dear Heather, as well the country song "Never Got to Love You", apparently made after an early demo version of Cohen's own 1992 song "Closing Time". During the 2010 tour, Cohen was closing his live shows with the performance of "Closing Time" which included the recitation of verses from "Never Got to Love You". The title song, "Blue Alert", and "Half the Perfect World" were covered by Madeleine Peyroux on her 2006 album Half the Perfect World, while the third covered song, "Crazy To Love You", was included in the albums Japanese edition.

Before embarking on his 2008-2010 world tour, and without finishing the new album which has been in work since 2006 (new song, "The Street", was recited by Cohen in 2006 on KCRW radio, and he also played two new songs from demo tape, "Book of Longing" and "Puppets"^[29]), Cohen contributed few tracks to other artists' albums - new version of his own "Tower of Song" was performed by him, Anjani Thomas and U2 in 2006 tribute film Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man (the video and track were included on the film's soundtrack and released as B-side of U2's single "Window in the Skies", reaching No 1 in Canadian Singles Chart), in 2007 he recited "The Sound of Silence" on album Tribute to Paul Simon: Take Me to the Mardi Gras and "The Jungle Line" by Joni Mitchell, accompanied by Herbie Hancock on piano, on Hancock's Grammy-winning album River: The Joni Letters, while in 2008 he recited the poem "Since You've Asked" on album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins.

2005 financial issues[link]

On 8 October 2005, Cohen alleged that his longtime former manager, Kelley Lynch, misappropriated over US $5 million from Cohen's retirement fund leaving only $150,000.^[30][31] Cohen was sued in turn by other former business associates.^[30] These events placed him in the public spotlight, including a cover feature on him with the headline "Devastated!" in Canada's Maclean's magazine.^[31] In March 2006, Cohen won a civil suit and was awarded US $9 million by a Los Angeles County superior court. Lynch, however, ignored the suit and did not respond to a subpoena issued for her financial records.^[32] As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the awarded amount.^[33] In 2007, US. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed a claim by Cohen for more than US $4.5 million against Colorado investment firm Agile Group, and in 2008 he dismissed a defamation suit that Agile Group filed against Cohen.^[34] Cohen has been under new management since April 2005.

[edit] Book of Longing

Cohen's book of poetry and drawings, Book of Longing, was published in May 2006; in March a Toronto-based retailer offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders placed online. All 1500 sold within hours. The book quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. Around the time of the release, RJ Smith wrote an essay about Cohen in Poetry magazine, in which he noted, "The pieces in Book of Longing are casual, but never so casual that the old horndog doesn’t have muscle or bite."^[35] On 13 May 2006, Cohen made his first public appearance in thirteen years, at an in-store event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. He sang two of his earliest and best-known songs: "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", accompanied by the Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith. Also appearing with him was Anjani, the two promoting her new CD along with his book.^[36]

In 2006, Philip Glass composed music to Cohen's 2006 book of poetry Book of Longing. Following the series of live performances which included Glass on keyboards, Cohen's recorded spoken text, four voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass-baritone), and other instruments, and as well the screenings of Cohen's artworks and drawings, Glass' label Orange Mountain Music released a double CD with the recording of the work, entitled Book of Longing. A Song Cycle based on the Poetry and Artwork of Leonard Cohen.^[37]

2008-2010 World Tour[link]

2008 tour[link]

2008 concert tour

13 January 2008, Cohen quietly announced a long-anticipated concert tour.^[38] The tour, Cohen's first in 15 years, began 11 May in Fredericton, New Brunswick to wide critical acclaim, and was extended until Winter of 2010.^[39] The schedule of the first leg in Summer of 2008 encompassed Canada and Europe, including performances at The Big Chill,^[40] the Montreal Jazz Festival, and on the Pyramid Stage at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival on 29 June 2008.^[41] His performance at Glastonbury was hailed by many as the highlight of the festival,^[42] and his performance of "Hallelujah" as the sun went down received a rapturous reception and a lengthy ovation from a packed Pyramid Stage field.^[43] He also played two shows in London's O2 Arena, and in Dublin he gave a "milestone concert", while in Dublin he was the first performer to play an open air concert at IMMA (Royal Hospital Kilmainham) ground, performing there on 13, 14 and 15 June 2008. In 2009, the performances were awarded Ireland's Meteor Music Award as the best international performance of the year.

In September, October and November 2008, Cohen gave a marathon tour of Europe, including stops in Austria, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia. In London, he played two more shows at the O2 Arena and two additional shows at the Royal Albert Hall.

[edit] Live in London

On 21 March 2009, Cohen released Live in London, recorded on 17 July 2008 at London's O2 Arena and released on DVD and as a two-CD set. The album contains 25 songs and is over two-and-a-half hours long. It was the first official DVD in Cohen's recording career. The quotation on the album referred to one hundred five-star reviews the tour gained in the international press in 2008.

2009 tour[link]

The third leg of Cohen's World Tour 2008-2009 encompassed New Zealand and Australia from 20 January to 10 February 2009.^[44] In January 2009, The Pacific Tour first came to New Zealand. Simon Sweetman in The Dominion Post (Wellington) of 21 January wrote "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen." The Sydney Entertainment Centre show on 28 January sold out rapidly, which motivated promoters to announce a second show at the venue. The first performance was well-received, and the audience of 12,000 responded with five standing ovations. In response to hearing about the devastation to the Yarra Valley region of Victoria in Australia, Cohen donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by the extensive Black Saturday bushfires that razed the area just weeks after his performance at the Rochford Winery in the A Day on the Green concert.^[45] Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported: "Tour promoter Frontier Touring said $200,000 would be donated on behalf of Cohen, fellow performer Paul Kelly and Frontier to aid victims of the bushfires."^[46]

On 19 February 2009, Cohen played his first American concert in fifteen years at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.^[47] The show, showcased as the special performance for fans, Leonard Cohen Forum members and press, was the only show in the whole three-year tour which was broadcast on the radio (NPR) and available as the free podcast.

The North American Tour of 2009 opened on 1 April and included the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, 17 April 2009, in front of one of the largest outdoor theatre crowds in the history of the festival. His performance of Hallelujah was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival, thus repeating the major success of the 2008 Glastonbury appearance. The performance has been included on 2010 Songs from the Road live release. During this leg, Cohen regularly performed new song, "Lullaby".

On 1 July 2009, Cohen started his marathon European tour, his third in two years. The itinerary mostly included sport arenas and open air Summer festivals in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Ireland (the show at O2 in Dublin won him the second Meteor Music Award in a row), but also performances in Serbia in the Belgrade Arena, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and again in Romania. On 3 August, Cohen gave an open air show at the Piazza San Marco in Venice.

On 18 September 2009, on the stage at a concert in Valencia, Spain, Cohen suddenly fainted halfway through performing his song "Bird on the Wire", the fourth in the two-act set list; Cohen was brought down backstage by his band members and then admitted to local hospital, while the concert was suspended.^[48] It was reported that Cohen had stomach problems, and possibly food poisoning.^[49] Three days later, on 21 September, on his 75th birthday, he performed in Barcelona. The show, last in Europe in 2009 and rumoured to be the last European concert ever, attracted many international fans, who lighted the green candles honouring Cohen's birthday, leading Cohen to give a special speech of thanks for the fans and Leonard Cohen Forum.

The last concert of this leg was held in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 24 September, three days after Cohen's 75th birthday, at Ramat Gan Stadium. The event was surrounded by public discussion due to a cultural boycott of Israel proposed by a number of musicians.^[50] Nevertheless, tickets for the Tel Aviv concert, Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1980, sold out in less than 24 hours.^[51] It was announced that the proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict.^[52] However, on 17 August 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert and its proceeds.^[53] Amnesty International later stated that its withdrawal was not due to the boycott but "the lack of support from Israeli and Palestinian NGOs."^[54] The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen was "intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel."^[55] On 24 September at the Ramat Gan concert, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Bereaved Families for Peace. He mentioned the organization twice, saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the 'Bereaved Parents for Peace'. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy. Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise."^[56] At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the Priestly Blessing, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim. Cohen's surname derives from this Hebrew word for priest, thus identifying him as a Kohen.^[57]

The sixth leg of the 2008-2009 world tour went again to US, with fifteen shows in October and November, with the "final" show in San Jose. The final leg included two new songs, "Feels So Good" and "The Darkness". But at that point, Cohen's "World Tour 2010" was already announced with the European dates in March.

The 2009 world tour earned a reported $9.5 million, putting Cohen at number 39 on Billboard magazine's list of the year's top musical "money makers."^[58]

Live releases[link]

On 14 September 2010, Sony Music released a live CD/DVD album, Songs from the Road, showcasing Cohen's 2008 and 2009 live performances. The previous year, Cohen's performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Music Festival was released as a CD/DVD combo. The DVD version included interviews with Kris Kristofferson and others.

2010 tour[link]

Cohen's 2008-2009 world tour was prolonged into 2010. Originally scheduled to start in March, the first dozen of the original European dates were postponed to September and October due to Cohen's lower-back injury.^[59] Officially billed as the "World Tour 2010", the tour started on 25 July 2010 in Arena Zagreb, Croatia, where in the week of the show 16 of Cohen's albums simultaneously entered the Croatian Top 40,^[60] while Cohen's work was presented by the translation of Book of Mercy, two of Cohen's biographies, and with selection of poems in major literary magazine Quorum, while there was also the translation of Linda Hutcheon's work on Cohen's literary output. In December 2010, the national daily newspaper Vjesnik ranked Cohen's show among the five most important cultural event in Croatia in 2010, in the poll among dozen of intellectuals and writers; it was the only event ranked which was not actually Croatian.^[61] The tour continued through August, with stops in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, where on 31 July 2010 Cohen performed at Lissadell House in County Sligo. It was Cohen’s eighth Irish concert in just two years after a hiatus of more than 20 years.^[62] On 12 August, Cohen played the 200th show of the tour in Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden, where he had already played in October 2008; the show was four hours long.

The Fall leg of the European tour started in early September with an open-air show in Florence, Italy, and continued through Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria, where Cohen performed at the famous open-air opera stage of Römersteinbruch bei St. Margarethen im Burgenland, and then continued with dates in France, Poland, Russia (Moscow's State Kremlin Palace), Slovenia and Slovakia.^[63] In Slovenia's brand new Arena Stožice, Cohen accepted Croatia's Porin music award for best foreign live video programme, which he won for his Live in London DVD.^[64] Cohen's last European show was held in Sibamac Arena, in Bratislava, Slovakia. The shows in late September and October were performed without Sharon Robinson, who left this tour leg due to heavy illness; the setlist omitted songs co-written by her, but old Cohen standards were added instead.

The third leg of the 2010 tour started on 28 October in New Zealand and continued in Australia, including an open-air concert at Hanging Rock near Melbourne. It was the first show ever organised at the site. The tour finished with seven special dates added in Vancouver, Portland, Victoria and Oakland, with two final shows in Las Vegas' The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on 10 and 11 December. The very last concert on 11 December was the 246th show on the world tour which started on 11 May 2008.

The world tour 2010 was covered daily on the Flickr photo blog which was edited by Cohen's road manager, entitled Notes from the Road.

2010s[link]

In August 2011, Cohen completed work on the studio album, Old Ideas, with producer Ed Sanders.^[65][66] The album was released on 27 January 2012.^[67] The lyric for the song "Going Home" was originally published as a poem in The New Yorker magazine in January 2012, prior to the record's release.^[68] The album received uniformly positive reviews from publications like Rolling Stone,^[69] the Chicago Tribune,^[70] and The Guardian.^[71] At a record release party for the album in January 2012, Cohen spoke with The New York Times reporter Jon Pareles who states that "mortality was very much on his mind and in his songs [on this album]." Pareles goes to characterize the album as "an autumnal album, musing on memories and final reckonings, but it also has a gleam in its eye. It grapples once again with topics Mr. Cohen has pondered throughout his career: love, desire, faith, betrayal, redemption. Some of the diction is biblical; some is drily sardonic."^[72]

"Hallelujah"[link]

"Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984. While the song initially had limited success it found greater popular acclaim through a cover by John Cale in 1991, which later formed the basis for a cover by Jeff Buckley. In recent years "Hallelujah" has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages.^[73] Statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the Canadian Recording Industry Association; the Australian Recording Industry Association; and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show that, prior to late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in compact-disc format. It has been the subject of a BBC Radio documentary and been featured in the soundtracks of numerous films and television programs.^[74]

Themes[link]

Recurring themes in Cohen's work include love, sex, religion, depression, and music itself. He has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so. "Suzanne" mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in "Joan of Arc". "Famous Blue Raincoat" is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken by his wife's infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to that friend. "Everybody Knows" is about sexual relationships during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s in which "the naked man and woman are just a shining artifact of the past."

Cohen is Jewish, and he has drawn from Jewish religious and cultural imagery throughout his career. Examples include "Story of Isaac", and "Who by Fire", the words and melody of which echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th-century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Broader Jewish themes sound throughout the album Various Positions. "Hallelujah," which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the biblical King David composing a song that "pleased the Lord" and continues with references to Bathsheba and Samson. The lyrics of "Whither Thou Goest", performed by him and released in his album Live in London, are adapted from the Bible (Ruth 1:16-17, King James Version). "If It Be Your Will" also has a strong air of religious resignation.

Having suffered from depression during much of his life (although less so recently), Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and suicide. Beautiful Losers and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" are about suicide; darkly comic "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" mentions suicide; "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is about a last-minute decision not to commit suicide. An atmosphere of depression pervades "Please Don't Pass Me By" and "Tonight Will Be Fine." As in the aforementioned "Hallelujah," music itself is the subject of "Tower of Song," "A Singer Must Die," and "Jazz Police."

Themes of political and social justice also recur in Cohen's work, especially in later albums. In "Democracy," he both acknowledges political problems and celebrates the hopes of reformers: "from the wars against disorder/ from the sirens night and day/ from the fires of the homeless/ and the ashes of the gay/ Democracy is coming to the USA." He has made the observation in "Tower of Song" that "the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there's a mighty judgment coming." In the title track of The Future he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: "I've seen the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love's the only engine of survival." In "Anthem", he promises that "the killers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud/ [are] gonna hear from me."

War is an enduring theme of Cohen's work that—in his earlier songs and early life—he approached ambivalently. Challenged in 1974 over his serious demeanor in concerts and the military salutes he ended them with, Cohen remarked, "I sing serious songs, and I'm serious onstage because I couldn't do it any other way...I don't consider myself a civilian. I consider myself a soldier, and that's the way soldiers salute."^[75] In "Field Commander Cohen" he imagines himself as a soldier of sorts, socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba—where he had actually visited at the height of US-Cuba tensions in 1961, allegedly sporting a Che Guevara-style beard and military fatigues. This song was written immediately following Cohen's front-line stint with the Israeli air force, the "fighting in Egypt" documented in a passage of "Night Comes On." In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to Jerusalem to sign up on the Israeli side in the Yom Kippur War, had instead been assigned to a USO-style entertainer tour of front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire.

Deeply moved by encounters with Israeli and Arab soldiers, he left the country to write "Lover Lover Lover." This song has been interpreted as a personal renunciation of armed conflict, and ends with the hope his song will serve a listener as "a shield against the enemy." He would later remark, "'Lover, Lover, Lover' was born over there; the whole world has its eyes riveted on this tragic and complex conflict. Then again, I am faithful to certain ideas, inevitably. I hope that those of which I am in favour will gain."^[76] Asked which side he supported in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cohen responded, "I don't want to speak of wars or sides ... Personal process is one thing, it's blood, it's the identification one feels with their roots and their origins. The militarism I practice as a person and a writer is another thing.... I don't wish to speak about war."^[77]

His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the "beautiful loser." Whether recording "The Partisan", a French Resistance song by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier, or singing his own "The Old Revolution," written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, he has throughout his career expressed in his music sympathy and support for the oppressed. Although Cohen's fascination with war is often as a metaphor for more general cultural and personal issues, as in "New Skin for the Old Ceremony," by this measure his most militant album.

Cohen blends pessimism about political/cultural issues with humour and, especially in his later work, with gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analysis as his songs are often verbally playful and cheerful. In "Tower of Song" the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings ironically that he was "born with the gift of a golden voice." The generally dark "Is This What You Wanted?" contains playful lines "You were the whore and the beast of Babylon/ I was Rin Tin Tin." In concert he often plays around with his lyrics ("If you want a doctor/ I'll examine every inch of you" from "I'm Your Man" sometimes becomes "If you want a Jewish doctor..."). He may introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or poem—for example, introducing "Leaving Green Sleeves" by paraphrasing his own "Queen Victoria," "This is a song for those who are not nourished by modern love."

Cohen has also recorded such love songs as Irving Berlin's "Always" or the more obscure soul number "Be for Real" (originally sung by Marlena Shaw).

Personal life[link]

Romantic relationships[link]

Leonard Cohen lived at Hydra, Greece in 1960 with Marianne C. Stang Jensen Ihlen (born in Norway 1935), and the song "So long Marianne" was written to and about her. Their relationship lasted for most of the 1960s.

Cohen had a relationship beginning in the 1970s with the Los Angeles artist Suzanne Elrod, with whom he has two children: a son, Adam, born in 1972, and a daughter, Lorca, named after poet Federico García Lorca, born in 1974. Adam Cohen began a career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1990s and fronts a band called Low Millions, while Lorca took the part in her father's tour team during the 2008-2010 world tour as photographer and videographer. She also shot Cohen's video for the song "Because Of" in 2004, while her "Backstage Sketch" was included on Cohen's 2010 DVD Songs from the Road. She has directed and shot video clips for The Webb Sisters and Kamila Thompson. On 2 February 2011, Lorca gave birth to a daughter, Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen in a co-parenting relationship with biological father Rufus Wainwright and his partner, Jorn Weisbrodt.^[78]

Cohen has said that "cowardice" and "fear" prevented him from ever actually marrying Elrod.^[79][80] Elrod took the cover photograph on Cohen's Live Songs album and is pictured on the cover of the Death of a Ladies' Man album. She is also the "Dark Lady" of Cohen's 1978 book Death of a Lady's Man. Cohen and Elrod split up in 1979.

"Suzanne", one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of his friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, rather than Elrod.^[81]

In the 1980s, Cohen was in a relationship with the French photographer Dominique Issermann, who shot his first two music videos for the songs "Dance Me To The End Of Love" and "First We Take Manhattan." Today Issermann is most famous for her photo sessions with Carla Bruni^[82] and for her fashion photography for magazines like Elle; in 2010 she was the official photographer of Cohen's world tour. Her photographs were used for the covers of his 1993 book Stranger Music and his album More Best of Leonard Cohen and for the inside booklet of Cohen's 1988 record I'm Your Man (which is dedicated to Issermann with words: "All these songs are for you, D. I.").^[83]

In the 1990s, Cohen was romantically linked to actress Rebecca De Mornay.^[84] De Mornay co-produced Cohen's 1992 album The Future, which is also supposedly dedicated to her with an inscription which quotes Rebecca's coming to the well from the Book of Genesis chapter 24^[85] and giving drink to Eliezer's camels, after he prayed for the help; Eliezer ("God is my help" in Hebrew) is Cohen's Hebrew name, and Cohen sometimes referred to himself as "Eliezer Cohen" or even "Jikan Eliezer."^[86]

In the 2000s, Cohen has been romantically involved with Anjani Thomas. Together they wrote the album Blue Alert in 2006, produced by Cohen. Thomas co-produced and co-wrote some songs on Cohen's 2004 album Dear Heather and was involved in the recording of Cohen's 2012 record, Old Ideas.

Religious beliefs and practices[link]

Cohen is described as an observant Jew in an article in The New York Times:

Mr. Cohen keeps the Sabbath even while on tour and performed for Israeli troops during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. So how does he square that faith with his continued practice of Zen? "Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago," he said. "Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief."^[87]

Cohen has been involved with Buddhism since the 1970s and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1996; however he is still religiously Jewish: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism."^[88]

In his concert in Ramat Gan, Israel, on 24 September 2009, Cohen spoke Jewish prayers and blessings to the audience in Hebrew. He opened the show with the first sentence of Ma Tovu. At the middle he used Baruch Hashem, and he ended the concert reciting the blessing of Birkat Cohanim.^[89]

Since the late 1970s Cohen has been associated with Buddhist monk and teacher Kyozan Joshu Sasaki (a.k.a. Roshi), regularly visiting him at Mount Baldy Zen Center and serving him as personal assistant during Cohen's own reclusion into Mt. Baldy monastery in the 1990s. Roshi appears as regular motif or addressee in Cohen's poetry, especially in the Book of Longing, and also took part in 1997 documentary about Cohen's monastery years, Leonard Cohen: Spring 1996. Cohen's 2001 album Ten New Songs is dedicated to Joshu Sasaki.

Cultural references[link]

Cohen is mentioned in the Nirvana song "Pennyroyal Tea" from the band's 1993 release, In Utero. Kurt Cobain wrote, "Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld/ So I can sigh eternally." Cohen, after Cobain's suicide, was quoted as saying "I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the Zen Centre, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able to lay something on him."^[90]

Awards, titles and honours[link]

Cohen was honored alongside Chuck Berry as the recipients of the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence-at the JFK Presidential Library, Boston, Massachusetts on February, 26, 2012.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Poetry[link]

• Six Montreal Poets. New York: Folkways Records, 1957.^[101]

Tribute albums[link]

Publications[link]

Collections: poems and songs[link]

• Let Us Compare Mythologies. Montreal: Contact Press [McGill Poetry Series], 1956.^[102] reissued 2007
• The Spice-Box of Earth. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1961.^[102]
• Flowers for Hitler. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964.^[102]
• Parasites of Heaven. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1966.^[102]
• Selected Poems 1956–1968. New York, Toronto: Viking, McClelland & Stewart, 1968.^[102]
• The Energy of Slaves. London,Toronto: Cape, McClelland and Stewart, 1972. ISBN 0-7710-2204-2 ISBN 0771022034 New York: Viking, 1973.^[102]
• Selected Poetry of Leonard Cohen. Penguin Classics, 1978.^[102]
• Death of a Lady's Man. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1978. ISBN 0-7710-2177-1 London, New York: Viking, Penguin, 1979.^[102] - reissued 2010
• Book of Mercy.London: Cape, 1984.^[102] - reissued 2010
• Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs. London, New York, Toronto: Cape, Pantheon, McClelland & Stewart, 1993.^[102] ISBN 0-7710-2230-1
• The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen. London, Omnibus, 1998.^[102] ISBN 0-7119-7141-2 2nd edition, 2009.
• God is Alive. Magic is Afoot. Sarah Perkins and Ian Jackson illus. Toronto: Stoddart, 2000.^[102] ISBN 0-7737-6180-2
• Book of Longing. London, New York, Toronto: Penguin, Ecco, McClelland & Stewart, 2006.^[102] (poetry, prose, drawings) ISBN 978-0-7710-2234-0
• Poems and Songs (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) 2011

Novels[link]

• The Favorite Game. London, New York, Toronto: Secker & Warburg, Viking P, McClelland & Stewart, 1963.^[102] Reissued as The Favourite Game. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1994. ISBN 978-0-7710-9954-0
• Beautiful Losers. New York, Toronto: Viking Press, McClelland & Stewart, 1966. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1991. ISBN 978-0-7710-9875-8 McClelland & Stewart [Emblem], 2003.^[102] ISBN 978-0-7710-2200-5

Film and television[link]

• Cohen was the subject of the 1965 documentary Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen, directed by Donald Brittain and Don Owen and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. This film, which pre-dates Cohen's career as a songwriter, explores his career as a well-known Canadian poet.^[103] Cohen also appeared in Owen's 1967 film The Ernie Game, which was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.^[104]
• Cohen's music also appeared the following year in the 1966 NFB animated short Angel.
• In 1968 Cohen performed on the BBC, both on the Julie Felix Show and in his own special, split into two thirty minute shows. The first clip still exists, while the second is only available as a bootleg CD.^[105]
• Cohen makes a cameo appearance performing "The Stranger Song" in the Canadian film The Ernie Game (1968), which is based on the stories of Bernard Cole Spencer.
• Cohen's music was popular among the directors of the New German Cinema, and appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) and Werner Herzog's Stroszek (1977).
• Cohen's 1970 performance at the Isle of Wight Festival was filmed by Murray Lerner, but remained unreleased until 2009 when it was released as Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970, and included Lerner's 2009 documentary material.
• Robert Altman's 1971 western McCabe and Mrs. Miller used three Cohen songs on its soundtrack, as well the instrumental parts of The Stranger Song performed by Cohen. Multiple record singles were released during the film's distribution.^[106]
• In 1972, Cohen's European tour was filmed by British director Tony Palmer; the re-edited material appeared in 1974 under the title Bird On a Wire and exists only as a bootleg VHS tape. Palmer's authorised and restored film was released in 2010.^[107]
• In October 1979, Cohen recorded a show for German TV show RockPop Special, available only as a bootleg. The show is often rebroadcast by the German satellite TV channel 3Sat.^[108]
• The Song Of Leonard Cohen, a 1980 documentary by Harry Rasky, featuring Irving Layton, includes highlights from Cohen's 1979 European tour and tracks from the LP Recent Songs.
• In 1983, Cohen wrote and starred in made-for-TV short musical film I am a Hotel, based on his songs. It won the Golden Rose award at the Rose d'Or television festival in Montreux in 1984.
• In 1985, Cohen co-wrote and co-composed Night Magic (starring Carole Laure) with fellow Quebecker, Lewis Furey.
• Cohen is subject of the BBC documentary Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen, filmed during his 1988 tour.^[109]
• Cohen appeared as villain Francois Zolan in the "French Twist" episode of the American television series Miami Vice (season 2, episode 17), originally broadcast on 21 February 1986.
• In 1988, Spanish TV station RTE televised the full version of Cohen's show in San Sebastian, 20 May, later aired in number of European countries and still rerun on the Spanish TV. It remains the only completely televised Cohen show.
• In 1989, Cohen gave his first major performance on US television on Austin City Limits^[110] (recorded in November 1988). He performed for the show again in July 1993. Both programs have been often rebroadcast by the PBS.
• "Everybody Knows" and "If It Be Your Will" play prominent parts in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume
• Three of Cohen's songs from his album The Future ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and "The Future") are used in Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder Boys (2000), starring Michael Douglas and The Life of David Gale (2003), starring Kevin Spacey.
• In 1994, Cohen narrated NFB-produced documentary The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
• Cohen's years at the Mt. Baldy Zen Centre were the subject of 1997 French documentary Leonard Cohen: Spring 96 by Armelle Brusq, released on DVD in 2009.
• In 2001, Cohen's song Hallelujah was used on the soundtrack of Shrek, in a version by John Cale.
• The Favourite Game (Le Jeu de l'ange), based on his novel of the same title, was released in Canada in 2003.
• Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man was released in 2006. It features a 2005 tribute concert to Cohen, "Came So Far For Beauty", held at the Sydney Opera House and produced by Hal Willner. The film, directed by Lian Lunson, has appearances by Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and a performance of "Tower of Song" by Cohen and U2. The film also features Cohen recalling significant parts of his life and career.
• Cohen is the subject of a two-part documentary, Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934-1977 (2007) and Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1978-2006 (2008), available separately on DVD.

See also[link]

	Poetry portal
32x28px	Music of Canada portal

• Music of Canada
• List of Quebec musicians
• Music of Quebec
• Culture of Quebec
• List of people with depression

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leonard Cohen

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Leonard Cohen

• Official website
• The Leonard Cohen Files
• Bird on a Wire (1972) at TCM Movie Morlocks
• Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews, Vol. 33 (Fall/Winter, 1993). The Proceedings of the Leonard Cohen Conference, Red Deer College, 22-24 Oct. 1993.