Techfiles - Page 4
March 28, 2008 @ 2:07 PM
Equipment
Standard equipment:
Beacon (250-350 euros), probe (55-120 euros), shovel (55-70 euros), first-aid kit (15-25 euros), cell phone and maybe a bivouac sack.
Additional equipment:
ABS backpack (two huge inflatable airbags that are integrated into the backpack keep you on the surface of the avalanche), Recco System (but you can only get located but can’t search with it), Avalung (a special tube system enables you to breath under the snow), Avalanche Ball (fixed to the backpack, you can activate it in case of an avalanche – it stays at the surface and helps people to find you quickly).
Avalanche camps
The more often you visit a camp, the more confident you will get in handling your equipment and in judging dangerous situations. Most of the camps are free and quickly booked up – sign up early!
SAAC offers free courses for beginners (2 days) and advanced freeriders (3.5 or 5 days) in resorts all over Europe. Equipment and lift ticket for the practice day are included!
Safety First - Christoph Weber, Fips Strauss or another member of the Ratiopharm snowboard team is always on location for one-day lessons in European resorts to tell you more about their own backcountry experience.
Freeride College - Although it’s not free (one-day inclusive lift ticket and equipment costs 69 euros or 129 CHF in Switzerland), you do get more dates (at least one every week) and resorts (in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland).
Useful information
Avalanche warning service:
For Germany: +49 (0)89 9214 1210, http://www.lawinenwarndienst.bayern.de
For Austria: Each state has its own service number, listed at http://www.lawine.at
For France: +33 (0) 892 68 10 20, http://www.meteofrance.com
For Italy: +39 (0) 461 23 00 30, http://www.aineva.it
For Switzerland: +41 (0) 848 800 187, http://www.slf.ch/avalanche/avalanche-de.html
Telephone numbers and websites for all other European countries: http://www.slf.ch/laworg/tab.html
All over Europe you can call 112 for the mountain rescue.
http://nsidc.org/snow/avalanche/ - Here you can glean how avalanches develop, what you have to watch out for in the backcountry and which equipment you need. Furthermore, you’ll find some interesting graphics and statistics.
‘Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain’
This book has been written by Bruce Temper and provides you step-by-step instructions for determining avalanche hazards, using safe travel techniques, and making effective rescues. Victoria Jealouse recommends it as well and that is probably the best decoration a book about backcountry can get, right? (The Mountaineers Books, 2001)
Facts
Every year, an average of 106 people die in avalanches in the Alps, according to IKAR, the International Commission for Alpine Rescue Services,
About 50 percent of the buried persons die despite carrying a beacon.
With beacon, probe and shovel, it takes an average of 11 minutes to locate and dig out a buried person. Without a probe, it takes 25 minutes. If you have to dig a person out with your own hands, you can be lucky if it only takes an hour.
A crash (for example at a backcountry kicker) burdens the snow coat six or seven times as heavy as your body weight.
Especially dangerous is the first bluebird day after a big dump.
97 percent of all avalanche accidents happen in slopes that are steeper than 30 degrees.
70 percent of all avalanche accidents happen in north faces.
