Jan/070
Avalanche Aware
Yesterday I went on a 1 day avalanche awareness course run by Chamonix Experience.
It was a Christmas present from Sarah, who decided that seeing as I was clearly going to be throwing myself down the mountains like a proper mentalist this season, I will probably live longer if I understand the avalanche risk a bit better.
She’s right. It was a really useful thing to do. Mainly it was a full day of off-piste skiing in Le Tour, which by itself was worth doing as I got to learn the area quite well. Interspersed with the skiing we did plenty of transceiver training (the radio beacons we wear which allow our friends to find us and dig us out if we’re avalanched), and lots of talking about the terrain, wind-loading and lots of the other factors which if you know about them can greatly reduce the risks of getting in an accident.
So I’m now a much safer person to ski with and if I go into the back country with other skiers and they ask ‘have you got a transceiver and do you know how to use it?’ I can truthfully say ‘Yes I do’.
