Avalanche Avoidance and Companion Rescue

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Avalanche Avoidance and Companion Rescue
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Outline

• Whos at risk

• Types of avalanches

What causes avalanches

• Avalanche avoidance

Companion rescue (beacon, shovel and probe)
Educational resources
Q and A
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Whos at Risk?
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Whos at Risk?
Whos at risk?
1. Snowmobilers
2. Skiers
4. Snowboarders
3. Climbers
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Whos at Risk?
About 97 of people killed in avalanches die
while playing
Source CAIC 1996/97 to 2005/06
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Types of Avalanches
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There are 2 types of avalanches
Types of Avalanches

• Slab avalanches
• Point release/loose snow

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Types of Avalanches
Almost all fatal avalanches are slab avalanches
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Types of Avalanches
Point release (loose snow) avalanches are more
easily predicted and usually less dangerous
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Types of Avalanches
Some slab avalanches are huge
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What Causes Avalanches?
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What causes avalanches?
If you understand the causes of avalanches you
can avoid them
Weather Terrain Snowpack Human Factors

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What causes avalanches?
Most avalanches occur during and immediately
after storms

• New snow adds weight (stress) to the snowpack and
  may not bonded to snow beneath

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Weather Wind transports snow (weight)
What causes avalanches?
Loading
Cornice
Wind loading direction
Crown
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What causes avalanches?
Rapidly warming temperatures can decrease snow
stability
You can have stability at one elevation but as
you climb or descend the snow profile changes
Similarly, a slope at one aspect (orientation)
can be safe but at a slightly different aspect
can be very unstable
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What causes avalanches?
Terrain The majority of avalanches occur on
slopes between 30 and 45
60
45
30
15
0
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Slope shape and terrain features also need to be
considered
What causes avalanches?

• Most slabs release on the bulge of convex slopes
• Slabs can be triggered from above and below the
  slope
• Dense trees can act as anchors and points of
  safety
• But if the trees are open enough for making
  turns theyre not dense enough to anchor the
  snowpack

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A weak snowpack usually consists of a strong
layer (slab) overlying a weak layer (sugar snow)
What causes avalanches?
Learn to evaluate the snowpack Theres no
substitute for on-snow avalanche instruction
Take a Level I avalanche course Practice
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Most killer avalanches are small and human
triggered
What causes avalanches?
1. What triggered this slide?
2. Where did the slope fail?
1. Skier
3. Whats the slope angle?
4. Where did the debris flow?
2. Slope convexity
5. Could this slide have killed you?
3. Roughly 30 degrees
4. Debris slid into concavity
5. Yes!
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What causes avalanches?
Human factors

• Attitude people sometimes ignore danger signs
  due to pride, ego and ambition
• Time weekend warrior syndrome
• Blue Sky sunny weather sometimes draws people
  too soon after a storm

• Herding Instinct people think less in large
  groups

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Avalanche Avoidance
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With good backcountry habits, you can avoid
avalanche danger
Avalanche avoidance
1. Expose only one person at a time 2. Get out
of the way at the bottom 3. Never cross above
your partner 4. Have an escape route planned 5.
Remove pole straps and safety straps 6. Travel in
the same route when possible 7. Keep your partner
in sight 8. Travel to points of safety
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Avalanche avoidance
What would happen to these two if an avalanche
occurred?
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Companion Rescue
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Companion rescue
Companion rescue
Asphyxiation is the cause of most avalanche
fatalities
Trauma 25
Asphyxiation 75
Source AAA
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Companion rescue
but if you get to them fast enough, you can save
them
If recovered within 15 minutes, chances of
survival are almost 92
At 35 minutes, survival rate drops to 37
Recovered Alive
After that, the success rate is extremely low.
Time in minutes
Source AAA (422 completely buried victims)
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Companion rescue
Only a member of your party or a companion will
likely save your life
Companion Rescue
Search and Rescue
189 (68)
58 (15)
Alive
317 (85)
91 (32)
Dead
280
375
Source CAIC
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Companion rescue
If an avalanche occurs
Victim 1. Yell so other people hear and see
you. 2. If possible, ski or ride to the side of
the moving snow. 3. Fight with all of your effort
to stay on the surface. 4. As the snow slows, try
to thrust a hand upward above the snow
surface. 5. Before the snow stops, try to clear
an air space in front of your face. 6. If buried,
do not panic! Stay calm and try to relax.
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Companion rescue
If an avalanche occurs

• Rescuer(s)
• Watch the victim(s) as they are carried down the
  slope. Look for last seen point.
• Make sure it is safe to begin a search.
• Delegate tasks visual search, beacon search,
  probing, shoveling.
• Mark the area where the victim was last seen and
  begin search here. Look for any clues.
• When victim is located, confirm depth and
  location with probe.
• Shovel strategically begin downhill of victim.

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Companion rescue
What do you need for a rescue?
1. Avalanche beacon follows electronic signal to
buried victim
2. Probe verifies depth and location of buried
victim
3. Shovel removes snow
4. Backpack to carry equipment
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Companion rescue
There are three phases to an avalanche beacon
search
1. Primary Search
2. Secondary Search
3. Pinpoint Search
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Companion rescue
Multiple searchers can decrease recovery time
1. Primary
2. Secondary
What does this guy do?
3. Pinpoint
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Companion rescue
A last seen point can also decrease recovery
time.Keep your eye on the victim!
Eliminates this area for searching
Last seen point
Search begins at star
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Companion rescue
Proper Probing

• Begin probing at the lowest distance reading.
• Probe in concentric circles until you strike the
  victim.
• Make each probe hole about 10 inches (25cm)
  apart.
• Your probe should enter the snow perpendicular to
  the slope.
• Once you have confirmed the victims
  location, leave the probe in the snow.

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Companion rescue
Strategic Shoveling

• Shoveling consumes the majority of time and
  effort in an avalanche rescue.
• Do not take shoveling skills for granted.
• Begin digging downhill of the probe about 1.5
  times the burial depth (note depth marking on
  probe to determine this distance).
• If one rescuer, make the hole at least one
  wingspan wide.
• If more than one rescuer, work side by side,
  make hole two wingspans wide (about
  6ft/2m).

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Digging is the hard part!
Companion rescue
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Companion rescue
Recreationists should master single burial
searching and strategic shoveling

• In 366 avalanche incidents, only 5 (1.4) were
  incidents where all victims were completely
  buried and wearing transceivers.
• Almost all multiple burials can be solved as a
  series of single burials.
• In interviews with witnesses, shoveling is always
  cited as more difficult and time consuming than
  beacon searching.

Avalanche.org statistics 1997-2007
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Conclusion
Most of the time, snow conditions are safe in the
backcountry. Learn to recognize when they are
not! We encourage you to
Learn more about what creates avalanche
conditions. Learn more about proper route
finding. Get in the habit of calling your local
avalanche forecast center or looking at their
reports online. Practice your beacon, probing,
and shoveling skills at a BCA Beacon Training
Park near you. This presentation is not a
substitute for a real, on-snow avalanche course.
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Educational Resources
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Educational resources
Resources
U.S. www.avalanche.org Canada www.avalanche.ca Eur
ope www.lawinen.org www.backcountryaccess.com/ed
ucation/
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Thanks for coming today!
Questions?