A spate of avalanche deaths after Christmas 2009 and at the beginning of 2010 marked a bad start to the winter sports season. Seven people including guides were killed in a series of avalanches in Italy just after Christmas and Switzerland experienced its worst avalanche for more than ten years when seven people were killed on January 4th. The week before three people were killed in France. America and Canada also recorded injuries and deaths.
The extreme toll, which may make 2010 one of the worst years on record in terms of avalanche deaths, is due mainly to a combination of extreme cold, heavy snow and rain which led to unstable slopes. But it also highlights the importance of carrying the right avalanche survival gear when venturing out into areas at risk of avalanche slides. The main items of safety equipment that everyone should carry are good quality transceivers such as those made by Ortovox or Mammut . These enable you to be found if you are buried under snow and enable you to search for companions if they are buried. The most modern of these now have up to three antenna and sophisticated digital processing. They can quickly determine the direction and distance to an avalanche victim. The best also have the built in intelligence to figure out when they are receiving multiple signals and can pinpoint multiple avalanche victims. These systems can significantly reduce the time it take to find and rescue victims.
For closer pinpointing of avalanche victims you need some way of actually locating them under the snow. The traditional method, and it is yet to be beaten, is to use a thin probe that pushes down into the snow. These are light, compact and relatively cheap. Just be sure you get one that is long enough to reach into deeply packed snow.
The third item is a snow shovel. You can get ones that disassemble and can be stowed in a backpack. They are also light. Be sure yours is sturdy with a decent handle and a proper blade to really shovel snow out the way. A broken plastic shovel blade, or a snow shovel that doesn’t bite is no good when seconds count to get your buddy out alive.
You can also get gear that will help you survive and keep breathing under the snow such as a Black Diamond Avalung. Snowpulse and Avalanche Airbag Systems also make gear that helps you stay on the surface of a snow slide to improve your chances of not being buried and of being dug out quickly if you are.
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