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2020 Basic Avalache Kowledge and Safe Routing in Avalache Terrain

This document provides an overview of basic avalanche safety training, including: - A 2-hour lecture on avalanche knowledge and safe route planning. - 2 hours of practical training on companion rescue, organized rescue, beacon search, surface search, and probe search. - The main objective is for students to recognize avalanche terrain and danger in order to avoid accidents. More than 90% of avalanches are triggered by victims or others in their group. - Slab avalanches cause over 90% of avalanche deaths. They form when a layer of snow breaks loose and slides down the mountain. Terrain features like slope angle, run out zones, and terrain traps are important to

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Marko Jankovic
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11 views

2020 Basic Avalache Kowledge and Safe Routing in Avalache Terrain

This document provides an overview of basic avalanche safety training, including: - A 2-hour lecture on avalanche knowledge and safe route planning. - 2 hours of practical training on companion rescue, organized rescue, beacon search, surface search, and probe search. - The main objective is for students to recognize avalanche terrain and danger in order to avoid accidents. More than 90% of avalanches are triggered by victims or others in their group. - Slab avalanches cause over 90% of avalanche deaths. They form when a layer of snow breaks loose and slides down the mountain. Terrain features like slope angle, run out zones, and terrain traps are important to

Uploaded by

Marko Jankovic
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Basic Avalanche Knowledge

Plan of the day

1. Lecture 2 hrs.;
Basic Avalanche Knowledge and Safe Route Planning

2. Practical training 2 hrs.;


Companion rescue & Organized rescue
- Beacon search
- Surface search
- Probe search
- Digging
Objectives

The main objective for this lesson


is to make sure that students can
recognize avalanche terrain and
danger and by doing so, be able
to avoid avalanche accidents.
~90% of
avalanche
accidents are
triggered by
the person
caught, or
someone else
in the group.
What
Is An
AVALANCHE?
Loose snow avalanche

Foto: Cryoslope Svalbard


Slush avalanche

Foto: Cryoslope Svalbard


Foto: Svalbardposten
Cornice fall avalanche

Film

Foto: Cryoslope Svalbard


Slab avalanche

Foto: M.Indreiten

More than 90% of all avalanche


deaths are caused by Slab
avalanches. 9
How Do
Avalanches
Form?
Slab avalanche

Foto: SMS
Terrain – slope steepness

• The majority of
avalanches occur
on slopes between
30°- 45°
Terrain - Run out zones
Terrain traps
Terrain in which the
consequences of an
Avalanche are especially
hazardous.

17
Terrain traps
Get out of harms way
• Don’t hang out anywhere you could get hit by an avalanche.
• When traveling through avalanche terrain go one at the
time.

Safe place to eat your lunch?


Terrain - Summary

Learn to identify:
• Angel of the slope
• Release zones
• Run out zones
• Terrain traps
• Safe zones
Safe routing
Two options for traveling in
avalanche terrain:
1. Avoid avalanche terrain – always in
the dark or bad weather
2. Make planned, safe movements
in avalanche terrain
• Demanding
• Requires training, knowledge and
experience
• Avoid the release- and, when
required, the run-out zones
• Wrong navigation or a wrong judgment
may lead to fatal consequences
22
5 Obvious Clues of avalanche danger
Recent avalanches
5 Obvious Clues of avalanche danger

Collapsing or cracking
5 Obvious Clues of avalanche danger

Wind drifted snow


5 Obvious Clues of avalanche danger

Recent deposits - New snow


5 Obvious Clues of avalanche danger

Rapid warming
The human factor

Attitude: Blue Sky:


People sometimes ignore Sunny weather sometimes
danger signs due to pride, draws people out too soon
ego and ambition. after a storm.

Time: Herding Instinct:


Weekend warrior syndrome. People tend to think less
in large groups.
Familiarity:
We take more chances «Tracker dog»:
People tend to think that
Expert halo: tracks in a slope is a safe
Personality vs. skills slope
/qualifications
The human factor

Foto: Svlabardposten
Avalanche rescue
Time is critical!

• 20-25% dies of trauma before the avalanche stops


• Of those still alive; most survive for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes the survival rate drops rapidly
Avalanche rescue
Basic safety gear
Avalanche rescue
Safety gear
• Optional safety equipment

• Organized rescue
Planning

33
Sources
Websites:
• Avalanche forecast and knowledge: www.varsom.no
• Steepness maps (KAST): https://temakart.nve.no/link/?link=kast
• Avalanche knowledge: www.kbyg.org

Movies:
• To hell in a heartbeat
• Avalanche danger scale
• Avalanche accident
• Know before you go

Some litterature:
• Staying alive in avalanche terrain, Bruce Tremper
• Skikompis, Christer Lundberg Nes
• Snowfall – The avalanche at tunnel creek, New York Times

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