Jonas Näf, Sasa Löpfe
If you’re heading off on a ski tour, you don’t just need the right clothing – the proper equipment is also crucial. Sales advisor and mountain guide Angelina explains everything you need to know about avalanche safety, how to build an emergency sledge to get down the mountain and what she takes with her in her touring backpack.
You need more than just an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and a probe for your ski tour. Getting up and down the mountain safely calls for a few additional pieces of kit – not to mention knowledge. You can take an avalanche course, for instance, to learn how to assess the snow properly. Sales advisor and mountain guide Angelina shares tips for staying safe on your tour.
Time and again, I notice that beginners are particularly concerned about avalanche safety. That’s hardly surprising, as this is doubtless the most unpredictable factor when you’re spending time in the mountains during the winter months. Experienced skiers or professionals adapt a tour’s risk level to the abilities of its participants, but beginners often find this overwhelming.
There is, however, one thing you can control – and that’s taking the right equipment (shovel, probe, avalanche transceiver) with you and knowing how to use it. In addition, you can study the avalanche report, maps and webcams in advance. Then, you should assess the terrain and your own skills. Neither of those are as easy as it sounds. Often, it’s harder to appraise your own abilities than it is to appraise the terrain. Warning signs in the terrain are cracks, ‘voom’ noises, spontaneous avalanches, high winds and poor visibility. You can obtain a basic level of knowledge at our avalanche information evenings, for instance.
The less you know, the more buffer you need to allow. That goes for the level of the tour, for instance.
Trust your eyes more than any resources you may be using: terrain can change over time.
The risk is substantially lower if the angle of the slope is less than 30 degrees.
My sources: Blog run by the SLF and hindsight/personal experience, attend courses and refresh your knowledge
When you’re watching the weather report, don’t just look at the pictures. Instead, read the text and identify the major connections. It might sound simple, but, in my experience, it’s possible to find an online weather report that tells you whatever you want to hear. So, it’s worth carefully incorporating reliable sources rather than blindly relying on just one forecast.
Some weather situations are easier to predict, like cold fronts. However, others are less stable, such as shallow pressure conditions, which call for greater caution. In addition, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with taking a calculated risk as far as weather goes, because many Swiss valleys and regions have their own microclimate. Usually, we tend to want to stick to our plans – but when you’re in the mountains, you need to remain flexible.
Always compare weather forecasts with the situation on the ground
No matter what the weather report says, give yourself a buffer (tour level)
My sources: The White Risk app, MeteoSchweiz (incl. blog with weather information), webcams
Newbies often ask me what I pack so I’m to kitted out to deal with almost any situation. My response? My MacGyver set, comprising:
Cord
Cable ties
Gaffer tape
Nuts and bolts
Skin wax
Ski wax
Colltex tape
A piece of wire
A small screwdriver with various heads
A multitool
Straps
Wooden dowels
These little bits and bobs can be used to fashion temporary fixes for all kinds of issues when out and about. For instance, I needed to carry out an interim repair to the shaft of my ski boot during a tour in Canada – and a nut and bolt were worth their weight in gold! Bindings can cause issues, which is where the multitool comes in. And if your skins have come unstuck, you need Colltex tape. Finally, if your ski poles break, you can splint them using wooden dowels and gaffer tape.
Bear in mind that you should only fiddle about with your material in a dire emergency. It’s always safer to seek out professional help: I only use my repair kit when I really have to.
Rescue sledIf someone has an accident en route and you can’t continue with your ascent, you can build a makeshift rescue sled. The easiest way to do this is to take a small, robust bivy sack and put a handful of snow in each corner from the inside. Then, tie these corners together with laces or straps from your repair kit so you have a good grip on them. You can also line the bivy sack with jackets or backpack padding to make it a bit comfier. This can be used to pull someone down the mountain – over soft snow – in an emergency.
Crevasse rescueCrevasse rescues divide opinion. The Swiss pulley system is a textbook variant, but it’s not the easiest, in my view, and people often fail to practice it regularly enough precisely because it’s so complex. However, falls and accidents don’t care whether you’re lacking practice, suffering from shock or pumped full of adrenaline. That’s why I think the alternative, simple pulley using a Petzl Nano Traxion, pulley roller and prusik hitch is worth knowing. I’ve seen that this variant works better under pressure, not least during my time as part of a canyoning rescue team. Thanks to the pulley roller, you’ve got next to no friction (efficiency: 1 to 2.85) and a similar outcome to the Swiss pulley without rollers (efficiency: approx. 1 to 2.7). However, you still need to practice this rescue strategy.
My tip to boost safety: get your fellow mountaineers together and book a mountain guide for the day. This will give you the chance to be taught how to perform crevasse rescues by an expert and practice with people whose level you know and who you’ll be out and about with later. You can book these kinds of courses from our partner Bergschule Höhenfieber (Höhenfieber mountaineering school).
First off, pack the things that you’d need in a medical emergency. Secondly, put good thought into whereabouts in your backpack you’ll keep your first aid kit. I always pop a waterproof bag with plasters, blister plasters and batteries in the lid of my backpack so these little helpers are always to hand.
My big first aid kit contains an SAM splint, which serves as a universal splint and fits neatly in the rear portion of my backpack. Then, I have basic equipment such as a pocket knife with scissors, bandages, steri-strips, disinfectant, rubber gloves and a survival blanket or bivy sack. Seek medical advice as to medications, but strong painkillers are a must-have for me.
I’d recommend adding some arnica globules to your first aid kit: you can use this as emergency medicine in the event someone suffers blunt-force trauma. I’d also add a few tampons (you can fashion a compress from them to stop bleeding) and a roll of tape.
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