Ski mountaineer traverses debris covered ground, base of Mt Footstool, New Zealand.
...if YOUR friend is buried in an avalanche.
An uninjured victim has a 93% chance of survival if uncovered within 15 minutes.
Time is of the essence.
- Try to watch the victim as they are carried down the slope, paying particular attention to the point you last saw them.
- When the avalanche stops, ascertain if there is further avalanche danger before venturing onto the slope.
- Establish escape routes.
- If you are a large group:
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- Post one member in a safe location away from the avalanche path to sound alarm.
- Send someone immediately for help.
- Do a quick visual search, looking for surface clues (a hand in a glove, a ski pole, ice axe . . .), beginning with the last seen point. Mark any clues.
- Ensure every party member on the surface turns their transceiver to RECEIVE, or Off if they are not involved in the search.
- Using beacons requires practice. Homing in on a buried signal involves moving in increasingly smaller search patterns around the area of the signal.
- Once the buried signal has been pinpointed, within a few metres, probe systematically until the victim is located.
- Leave the probe in and dig to the victim.
- The immediate priority is to uncover the victims head and chest.