It has continued to snow off and on over the past week, which has been great for the skiing (even if it’s been just a sprinkle at times). This snowy trend will continue and intensify a bit into early next week. However, you may have heard about a number of accidental avalanches that have occurred over the last week. The reason for these accidents is a persistent weak layer in the snowpack on many slopes (see the avalanche bulletins for more info on the weak layer). I’m off-piste just about every day, but I’m very careful about which slopes I choose at the moment. Since the conditions have been unstable and variable over the last month, people are continuing to ask the question, “How can we tell if it’s safe?”. Our response is, “It depends on:
1. Where you go and when,
2. How you go down or up , and
3. How well prepared you are”.
We’ve looked at the answers to the first two questions, so now we’re going to continue to tackle the question, “Is it safe out there?”, with the 3rd of 3 answers: how to be well prepared. Being well prepared is often the difference between a glorious day out and a complete disaster. Be comfortable with the people you are going with. If you have different attitudes to safety, you will find the experience very frustrating as well as potentially dangerous. Know how your equipment works. Make sure the others do as well; you are relying on them to rescue you. The chances of recovering a buried person alive fall off dramatically after 15 minutes (chances of survival are more than 80% in the first 15 minutes – dropping to around 50% after 30 minutes). You will only be able to find them this quickly if you have practiced with your transceiver, probe and shovel. Keep the group size to between 3 and 5 people. If there are only two of you and one gets caught, the other one is on their own trying to both rescue you and fetch help. If there are more than 5 of you, the group becomes fragmented and the safety risks increase. Keep thinking about what you are doing, being alert to danger signs. It is all too easy to let passion and enthusiasm blind you to risk. HAT has an online version of their “Ride Hard, Ride Safe” introduction talk available at www.henrysavalanchetalk.com. It provides more advice on how to be well prepared and make the right decisions.
Have Fun and Be Safe!
Tags: S5E06
