Avalanche safety

Avalanches are probably the most serious and deadly danger faced on VOC trips. Avalanches kill about 10 people every year in Western Canada.

Why you need avalanche training

• In about 87% of avalanche fatalities, a member of the victim's party triggered the avalanche. It's not a matter of luck.
• For complete burial, survival rates are highly dependent on a quick rescue. Only members of the victim's party, with appropriate equipment and training, have a reasonable chance of getting the victim out alive. Mountain rescue and ski patrol are for body recovery only.

Canadian Avalanche Centre Bulletins

There are two levels of avalanche information bulletins published by the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC). The Backcountry Avalanche Advisory is the most basic level, intended for people with no avalanche training. The Public Avalanche Forecast is next level of information, intended for people with basic avalanche training such as the Avalanche Safety Training (a two day course, previously called "Recreational Avalanche Course"). The Public Avalanche Forecast contains a danger rating and a discussion of snowpack, weather and travel conditions.

Backcountry Avalanche Advisory Danger Ratings

Avalanche Conditions	Travel Advice	Guidance for Amateur Recreation
Good	Normal Caution	Avalanches are infrequent but possible. Appropriate conditions for informed backcountry travel.
Serious	Extra Caution	Avalanches will occur with human and other triggers. Avalanche training and experience are essential for safe backcountry travel.
Poor	Not Recommended	Avalanches are occurring frequently. Inappropriate conditions for backcountry travel without extensive avalanche training and experience.
Variable	Extra Caution	Conditions change from good with frozen snow to poor with melted snow. Avalanche training and experience are essential to monitor conditions for safe travel.

International Danger Ratings

These danger ratings are used in the CAC Public Avalanche Forecast

Danger Level and Color	Probability and Trigger	Recommended Action
Low	Natural avalanches very unlikely. Human triggered avalanches unlikely.	Travel is generally safe. Normal caution advised.
Moderate	Natural avalanches unlikely. Human triggered avalanches possible.	Use caution in steeper terrain on certain aspects.
Considerable	Natural avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches probable.	Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain.
High	Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.	Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.
Extreme	Widespread natural or human triggered avalanches certain.	Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided and confined to low angle terrain, well away from avalanche path runouts.

Terrain Ratings

Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES) v.1/04

Description	Class	Terrain Criteria
Simple	1	Exposure to long angle or primarily forested terrain. Some forest openings may involve the runout zones of infrequent avalanches. Many options to reduce or eliminate exposure. No glacier travel.
Challenging	2	Exposure to well defined avalanche paths, starting zones or terrain traps; options exist to reduce or eliminate exposure with careful routefinding. Glacier travel is straightforward but crevasse hazard may exist.
Complex	3	Exposure to multiple overlapping avalanche paths or large expanses of steep, open terrain; multiple avalanche starting zones or terrain traps below; minial options to reduce exposure. Complicated glacier travel with extensive crevasse bands or icefalls.

The detailed technical criteria for Simple, Challenging and Complex ratings are available from the Parks Canada website

Avalanche Safety Equipment

The most important piece of safety equipment is your brain. Use it. Always make a concious effort to evaluate risks before committing to any slope.

Avalanche Transciever

Avalanche Transcievers let rescuers locate buried avalanche victims. Everyone in a part should be equipped with a transciever. Modern transcievers send and recieve at 457kHz, and are not compatible with older 2kHz transcievers. The only thing a 2kHz transciever should be used for is your dog.

Avalanche Probe

A collapsible probe for finding a buried avalanche victim. On average, having a probe reduces rescue time by several minutes, which can be critical for the survival of a victim. Probes are also useful for measuring snowpack depth and probing for crevasses. Some probes have a ruler inscribed on them so they can be used to measure snowpack layers when doing a snow profile.

Shovel

For digging of course. Hopefully you only ever have to use it to dig pits for snow profiles, snow caves, or a snow kitchen.

Snow saw

saws are handy for doing snowpack tests like the compression test or shovel shear test. Some saws will attatch to a probe or a ski pole and allow you to cut out a large isolated column for a Rutchblock test.

Avaluator

This si a new descision making tool from the Canadian Avalanche Centre. It has 7 questions that can help to identify high risk avalanche conditions.

ruler

For measuring layer thickness when doing snowpack analysis.

Loupe & crystal screen

For examining snow crystal structures

Field Observations

A professionally taught avalanche course can teach you how to make observations in the field to assess avalanche risk.