Avalanche training!

Each winter more of us enjoy the mountains and head out for a ski or snowboard holiday or some lucky peeps get to spend a season in a resort. The way that technology of skis and snowboards has envolved over the past decade has influenced and changed the way we ski and where we ski on the mountain. More winter sports enthusiasts are now venturing into the backcountry and enjoying the powder away from the crowds on-piste. With this comes a risk and no matter how long you’ve been skiing, if you don’t know the dangers and you don’t know where you are going and how the snow is layered beneath you then there is a bigger chance than you think of getting caught out.

The Facts:

• Avalanches or smaller ‘sluffs’ which are also dangerous are nearly always triggered by a person. In fact, 90% of the time the eventual victim or one of their group triggers the avalanche that bury them.
• Most avalanches occur on slopes between 30 and 45 degrees, but can occur on any slope angles given the right conditions.
• Each year more than 150 people are killed by avalanches.
• They can reach speeds over 80 mph within five seconds.
• Most commonly, avalanches occur within the first twenty-four hours after a snowfall over 30cm.
• 

  Buried alive, once you've tried it you won't go back!

  Statistics show that 93% of avalanche victims survive if dug out within 15 minutes.

• After 45 minutes, only 20 to 30 percent of victims are alive. After two hours, very few people survive.

These facts are a little morbid but they are facts and in order to stay safe we need to be prepared and take the necessary precautions when going off-piste.

There are many things that you can do to decrease your chance of being caught out. An understanding of how the mountain works is a start, how weather affects the snow layers and ultimately how safe the conditions are in which you intend to ski. Many factors influence how stable snow is or isn’t as the case may be. The snow that we ski on top of is made up of layers from previous snowfalls and obviously each time it has snowed the conditions in which the snow has fallen and different so each layer is unique, they are literally a record of a winter. If you take a shovel and dig through an area of deep snow you will physically be able to see these layers piled up on top of each other and if you cut out a section of these layers you will be able to feel the difference in quality of the snow. This is a process that is useful when learning about backcountry safety. How the layers have fallen and how they have bonded often determines how easily one will weaken and cause a slide. National Geographic say, ‘Storminess, temperature, wind, slope steepness and orientation (the direction it faces), terrain, vegetation, and general snowpack conditions are all factors that influence whether and how a slope avalanches. Different combinations of these factors create low, moderate, considerable, and high avalanche hazards.’

There are many unwritten rules of the mountain and how not to put yourself and others in danger. Always go off-piste with a guide and/or in a group, always go one at a time, do not stop or regroup on a face, avoid slopes with an angle greater than 30°… The list is endless and no amount of training or experience will exclude anyone from being caught in an avalanche but we must all be more vigilant and prepared for everyone’s sake as after all, we all want to enjoy the snow!

Tags: Outdoor Pursuits, skiing, Snowboarding, Winter sports