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Top Tips for Surviving an Avalanche

Your First Reactions In An Avalanche

1. Move Sideways

The most dangerous spot to be in an avalanche is the centre of it. When there are signs of an avalanche, it is important that you move sideways to give yourself the best of chances of avoiding being caught in the middle of one. Whether the avalanche starts above or beneath you, you don’t want to be static so move as you’re more than likely to get caught and end up in the middle of the avalanche.

2. Jump Upslope

Most of the avalanches that occur when you are skiing or snowboarding will be caused by yourself. Should this happen, the snow will begin to fall beneath you. You’ll want to quickly jump upslope to avoid getting caught.

3. Carry an Avalanche Transceiver

An Avalanche Transceiver is the tool that will save your life if you get caught in an avalanche situation. Transceivers transmit a radio frequency to a receiver or another transceiver, so rescuers can pinpoint your exact location and start digging you out as quickly and safely as possible.

4. Lose everything you have

Unless you are wearing an Avalanche Airbag or Black Diamond Avalung pack then its important to get rid of everything, skis, rucksack, poles, whatever you have on lost it. It’ll only weigh you down further into the avalanche so you need to make yourself as light as possible so you can get to the surface as quickly as possible.

5. Grab Something Close

While you may not be able to do this in a bigger, more powerful avalanche, you should grab onto something for the smaller, less powerful avalanches as it can save your life, like a rock or a tree .

6. Swim for your life

Once you have found yourself being dragged down the mountain by large amounts of snow, start swimming as hard as you can in the direction of the snow to try and stay afloat and to avoid getting buried deep in the snow once it settles.

Surviving if You Get Buried in Snow

1. In space, no one can hear you scream

No one can hear you scream in an avalanche either, snow can easily force itself into your mouth, which stops you from being able to breathe.

2. Create an Air Pocket

Creating an air pocket will give you space to breathe once the snow has settled. Cupping your hand over your mouth whilst caught in an avalanche will create an air pocket. You can also expand your chest out by filling your lungs with air which will give you more space to breathe. New to a lot of airbags is the facility to create an air pocket, we highly recommend the Jetforce Airbags and Scott Patrol Bag

3. Big Breaths

If you had used the air pocket strategy then you have made it easier to do this step. Once you come to a stop, take several big, deep breaths to allow your lungs to fully inflate and deflate.

4. Remain Calm

When you’re caught in an avalanche, you know it is a life or death situation, so your natural instinct would be to panic. If you are able to keep your head together, you have a better chance of surviving. Victims would normally have a 15-minute window where they can breathe under the snow should they have space. Panicking will cause your breaths to be faster, therefore you have less survival time. If you have your transceiver or a small band-aid size Recco detector, rescuers are more than likely to be working on getting you out of there.

Increasing Your Chances of Survival:

Never hit the slopes without any safety essentials. you should always carry the following Avalanche Safety Kit to reduce the risk of being buried :

An Avalanche Transceiver and Probe. The beacon will send out a signal to show where the victim is buried, and the probe is used to locate the person depth, this will allow you to start digging. Every person in your party should carry both.
Lightweight Shovel. This is used to dig an air pocket around the face as well as digging out the victim.
A helmet. Many avalanche-related fatalities happen because of the initial impact of the snow knocking people off of their feet.
Avalanche Airbags have become more popular in recent years. Airbags such from Scott, ABS, Ortovox, Pieps will bring your body toward the surface of the snow, this will reduce the risk of being buried or suffocating.
Recco Reflector is also a very important piece of equipment, used by mountain rescue teams the small band-aid size transponder is recognized worldwide.

Take an avalanche training course:

Avalanches happen frequently enough that many organizations provide intensive training courses to coach skiers and snowboarders on how to avoid avalanches, save themselves, and rescue each other. If you’re travelling to avalanche country, it’s worth taking a course.

Snowsafe Blogs:

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.

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Snowsafe Blog

Top Tips for Surviving an Avalanche

Your First Reactions In An Avalanche

1. Move Sideways

2. Jump Upslope

3. Carry an Avalanche Transceiver

4. Lose everything you have

5. Grab Something Close

6. Swim for your life

Surviving if You Get Buried in Snow

1. In space, no one can hear you scream

2. Create an Air Pocket

3. Big Breaths

4. Remain Calm

Increasing Your Chances of Survival:

Take an avalanche training course:

Snowsafe Blogs:

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