Taking the kids skiing for half term? Or are they going with a school group?
Make sure they have Recco Reflectors in case the worst happens and they are involved in an Avalanche
Recco Reflectors are attached to your helmet or ski backpack and allow Mountain rescue personnel to detect you if you are buried in the snow. Click Here for more information on how the recco reflector works.
Heres a short illustrated video of how it works:
You may think well they are in ski school and are not going off-piste but do not be complacent, avalanches can happen anywhere and given the recent huge snowfalls in Europe its imperative that all precautions are taken.
On piste, avalanches happen: In Tignes 2017 is a prime example. On the whole, resorts take huge care in order that these do not happen by the way the pistes are designed but you can never be too careful. Furthermore, if they do happen on piste there are usually plenty of people around to react quickly.
At snowsafe we sell the Reccos individually and cost £26.00 each, for a Helmet Recco or a Backpack Recco they are small and should be attached to your kid’s boots when you hire their boots, skis and poles from the hire shop. You can detach them when you take your ski gear back to the Hire shop and reuse them. If you have your own ski equipment great then leave them attached permanently.
When skiing with your kids theres always a lot of stuff to carry and a backpack is always necessary, You find the Recco pre-installed into a Terrawest Core 22 Litre Backpack for £79.00, this offers 22 litres of usable volume to store your children’s spare layers, water, snacks, this pack has pockets on the hip belts making it easily accessible to locate your phone for a quick snap of the kids slopes!
If you have been taking your kids every year skiing since they were little and are now in their teenage years and are accomplished skiers or snowboarders make sure they have Reccos as mandatory as they are more advanced they are more likely to go off-piste or more dangerous runs.
The steeper the terrain the more often greater chance avalanche likely. So Recco Reflectors are a must here and it may be an idea to buy them Transceivers, the Ortovox Diract and Diract Voice beacons include Recco in the Carry Harness.
Absolutely essential to purchase Winters Sports Insurance, In the EC (for how long ), you can still get hospital treatment through public hospitals through the GHIC card and mountain rescue through Carte Neige but there are a host of other benefits with proper ski insurance such as Repatriation, Missed departure, ski equipment cover etc. from £17.00 for a weeks cover in Europe under 18 year old.
Family ski insurance can work out cheaper than individual Policies or if you are going on several holidays then Annual Travel Insurance with Winter sports cover is cheaper and also more convenient as you do not have to buy insurance every time you go away. Policies start from £104.00 for family of 4.
Happy Half term skiing, hope the lift queues are not too long and the snow levels keep up, keep safe.
It’s important to stay safe and have the correct training when skiing or snowboarding off-piste please check out further blogs below:
If you would like to feature a blog about your organisation or experience in the snow please feel free to contact us on info@snowsafe.co.uk or 01273 003925. We are happy to take guest blogs linking back to your website.