Avalanche safety tips and advice

15th January 2010

90% of avalanche accidents are caused by the skier or boarder themselves (or someone in their group).

Avalanche safety tips and advice

This means that you can influence what happens and make the right decisions to keep you safe.

Safety off piste depends on

  • Where you go and when
  • How you go down or up
  • How well prepared you are

WHERE YOU GO AND WHEN

If you are in a secured area, the resort takes responsibility for ensuring that there is no avalanche risk. However, in Europe the secured area stops at the piste markers. Once you go beyond the markers, even just to get between two adjacent pistes, you are "off piste" and taking responsibility for your own decisions. It takes time to develop your judgement but there are some simple principles to start with.

Learn about slope angles

Snow does not slide off flat areas. I start to be concerned about the risk of triggering an avalanche once the slope angle is 25 degrees or more.

Look for signs of recent avalanche activity

Slab avalanches are responsible for most accidents and even small ones can be lethal. If you see recent releases, make a note of which slope aspects and altitudes are most prone to them, and avoid.

Watch out for wind-loaded slopes

Slopes covered in extra snow, swept there by prevailing winds, may have great freeriding conditions, but the extra load of snow makes them susceptible to the extra weight of a skier.

Study the avalanche bulletin before you go

This will tell you the altitude and slope aspects where the risk is greatest. You can find these in the resort, online or ask the piste patrol.

HOW YOU GO DOWN AND UP

The rules here are simple.

Go one at a time where there is any possibility of danger

Avalanches are triggered when the weight on the snow pack causes the slab to fracture. One person puts far less pressure on a slope than two or three people. When you stop to wait for the rest of your group, make sure it is somewhere safe (find an "island of safety") so that if they trigger an avalanche you won't get caught in it.

Keep your tracks close together

If the person in front did not trigger a slide and you follow very close to the same line it is likely you will be safe as well.

Look out for convexities

Where the slope goes from flat to steep there is often weakness in the snow pack that can be triggered by a skier

Look out for what is below you

If there is a cliff or narrow bowl below then the consequences of a slide will be far more severe than if there is just a small stretch of slope with a smooth run out. And be sure never to trigger an avalanche onto others below you.

HOW TO BE WELL PREPARED

Being well prepared is often the difference between a glorious day out and a complete disaster.

Make sure you have the right equipment

You need a tranceiver, shovel and probe whenever you go off-piste. Digital models are simplest to use - you can buy models by Ortovox at www.henrysavalanchetalk.com

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 per cent in the first 15 minutes and less than 50 per cent after 30 minutes). You will only be able to find them this quickly if you have practiced with your transceiver, probe and shovel.

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.

Keep your group size to between three and five people

If there are only two of you and one gets caught, the other one will be alone, needing to both rescue you and to fetch help. If there are more than five of you, the group can become fragmented and the safety risks increase.

Keep thinking about what you are doing

Be alert to danger signs. It is all too easy to let passion and enthusiasm blind you to risk.

This article was written by Henry Schniewind.

Henry Schniewind works as an off-piste guide for the Ecole de Ski Alpine Experience in Val d’Isère. He started giving avalanche awareness talks in the late 1980s and created Henry’s Avalanche Talk (HAT) in 2002 to respond to ever-increasing requests to provide awareness and information about how to have fun and be safe off-piste.

HAT has an online version of the "Ride Hard, Ride Safe" off-piste safety presentation available at www.henrysavalanchetalk.com, providing more advice on how to be well prepared and make the right decisions to stay safe.

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