Well engineered structural rail fencing will outlast pailing fencing and be far more effective, but at a cost in terms of material and labour and also in snow distribution depending on what is 'downwind'.
There has been a tendency in the past to fall into the trap of snow fencing is good, so more must be better - it isn't necessarily so and it's worth noting in recent years on CairnGorm problem areas have been improved by both increasing (OverYonder) and decreasing (M1 RaceTrack) snow fencing!
Years of research by US State Highway authorities show that rail fencing with 50% porosity is much more effective at snow trapping than pailing, but in a snowsports area you might not always want that - careful consideration of what happens downwind in various scenarios is required to avoid issues such as occurred on CairnGorm where excessive fencing on the M1 RaceTrack when combined with the Funicular superstructure just about killed off the White Lady.
A point worth noting with regards to the CairnGorm rail fences is that they are generally about 6ft, compared to 4ft for the pailing fences, but a 50% increase in fence height DOUBLES the potential snow volume that can be trapped.
A higher and less porous fence also has other less immediately obvious benefits, because it disrupts wind more it will reduce ablation rates in warm winds and because it is higher and more solid will reduce solar warming of the snow pack when at least part of the fence remains exposed.
Edited 3 times. Last edit at 15.24hrs Mon 31 Aug 15 by alan.
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