Preparing for a ski tour or snowshoe hike: avalanche awareness and equipment

Before the first ski touring excursion of the winter season, you should take enough time to prepare yourself thoroughly for the season. Refresh your knowledge of avalanche awareness, wax your touring skis or get them serviced, and check your other equipment, such as your avalanche transceivers. You can find the most important information here.

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Avalanche awareness

Avalanche safety plays a key role in winter sports. Every year, people lose their lives when on ski or snowboard tours, when snowshoeing or when Alpine skiing or snowboarding. As a result, you should develop a good level of avalanche awareness and refresh this knowledge at regular intervals. How should I read an avalanche bulletin? What types of avalanches exist? How and where do they form? How can I recognise patterns of danger and assess them? Where can I get down? You need to be able to answer these and similar questions before you leave the secured slopes.

The book ‘Lawinen’ (978-3-7343-1574-9, CHF 39.90, available from Transa Books) from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is a vividly illustrated practical guide. You will learn how to assess the risk of avalanches, recognise patterns of danger and correctly evaluate snow conditions. In addition, ‘Avalanches’ offers decision-making strategies, explains the correct behaviour in an emergency and explains modern methods of searching for buried victims.

You should expand your avalanche knowledge by completing practical exercises: how can you estimate the angle of a slope? How can you appraise the snow profile? How can you choose your route through the terrain? And what should you do if, despite all your preparation, you’re caught up in an avalanche? Höhenfieber offers foundation and extension courses that teach you everything you need to know in practice. After all, the very best safety equipment is worth naught if you can’t use it properly in an emergency.

By the way, beginners aren’t the only people who need to develop good avalanche awareness: experienced ski tourers should also refresh their knowledge regularly. The avalanche information evenings organised by Transa and Höhenfieber are instructive for both novices and the more experienced.

Safety equipment – avalanche transceiver and avalanche airbag

If an emergency occurs, you need to be able to rely on equipment like your avalanche transceiver, probe or an avalanche airbag backpack – so you should check over this equipment with a fine-toothed comb before your first tour.

Ideally, you had taken the batteries out of your avalanche transceiver in spring. If you forgot to do this, carefully check to see whether they’ve leaked and damaged the device. In any event, you should swap them for new batteries. Whether they should be alkaline or lithium batteries is detailed in your device’s instructions. Lithium batteries last longer at lower temperatures, but can’t be used in all devices. You shouldn’t use rechargeable batteries: they operate at lower voltages, and therefore give your device a shorter reach and operating time.

Manufacturers regularly update the software on their avalanche transceivers: make sure the version on your device is up to date, so you can count on the fastest, most reliable search. Transa can let you know if there’s an update for your device.

You should put your avalanche airbag backpack to the test once a year. These backpacks can contain two different systems: air bags that inflate using a gas cartridge, and those that use a battery-powered blower. If you have an electric system, you should check the battery after summer and test it out as many times as you like. If you have a cartridge model, you need to change the cartridge after each test. If it’s an ABS, you also need to change the trigger handle. Some systems, such as those used in Ortovox and Mammut products, can be triggered ‘dry’: this tests the trigger mechanism but the cartridge isn’t screwed in and the airbag isn’t inflated. Weigh the cartridge regularly to check if it’s full enough. If it’s more than five grams lighter than the weight printed on the exterior, you should replace it. You’re welcome to pop by Transa’s Markthalle Bern, Lausanne, Lucerne, Vevey, Zermatt or Zurich Europaallee stores for help with all this.

Check your other equipment

Every touring backpack needs a first aid kit. Make sure there’s nothing missing from it and that any medication is in date. Tip: pick a set with a survival blanket, as this can make the difference between life or death in an emergency.

Also check over your ski touring clothing before the season starts. Your backpack’s shoulder straps rub on your jacket, while sweat and skin oils impact the material’s functionality over time. Regular washing and waterproofing help it to maintain tip-top performance and minimise wear. If you want your clothing to be professionally cleaned, we offer a cleaning service.

Have your skis or snowboard serviced

 Your first ski tour of the season is on the horizon and you suddenly realise that your skis or snowboard are in urgent need of servicing. You might be able to wax your skis yourself, but if not, we’d be happy to help. At our Markthalle Bern, Lausanne, Lucerne, Vevey, Zermatt and Zurich Europaallee stores, you can get your equipment ready for winter. We offer the following options:

• Mini service: waxing, sanding edges, stone grinding, base grinding. Skis: CHF 49, snowboard: CHF 59

• Base repairs: CHF 10 (per broken area)

• Full service: waxing, sanding edges, stone grinding, base grinding, major improvements to base. Skis: CHF 69, snowboard: CHF 79, splitboard: CHF 89

 We also offer services for touring skis:

• Skin cutting: free when bought from us, otherwise CHF 40

• Skin regluing: price based on outlay

• Binding re-mounting: CHF 80, if we have the right drill jig

It’s important to have your bindings checked regularly: are the release values set correctly? Has your weight changed, and do the bindings need to be adjusted?

Tour planning

Carefully planning your ski or snowshoe tour not only reduces the risk of you being caught up in an avalanche: it’s also a fun thing to do!

Plan your route at home using topographical maps, paying particular heed to the terrain. If you have the necessary avalanche awareness, you can spot dangerous points and adapt your tour to take the current weather and snow conditions into account. It’s important that the tour is a good fit for your group’s abilities.

The ‘Ski & Snowboard Tourenatlas Schweiz’ (ISBN: 978-3-033-04116-5, CHF 103.00, available from Transa Books), contains genuine insider tips and tours at every level of difficulty, plus topographical maps to take with you.

If you’re new to ski touring, I highly recommend taking a course: our partner Höhenfieber offers courses tailored to beginners and advanced skiers alike.