More deaths due to avalanches: ‘Those who ski off-piste are playing Russian roulette’
The skis and snowboards are waxed and the cars with large roof boxes are driving en masse towards the Alps. The winter sports season has started and with a good layer of snow in the Alps, the conditions are favourable.
Dutch winter sports enthusiasts prepare well by, for example, taking groceries and snow chains with them. It is in stark contrast to the minimal knowledge about avalanche danger, says director of the Dutch Ski Association Arjen de Graaf. He previously wrote two books about avalanches.
“People often do not know that they are taking these risks. In ski areas you are in a conditioned environment. But when you ski via an untouched section between two slopes, you are taking a risk. The avalanche danger starts there.”
Two dead
Yesterday, fate struck two winter sports enthusiasts. A father and son died when they were surprised by an avalanche in the Zillertal. The avalanche warning level was 3 on a scale of 5.
Most winter sports enthusiasts think that level 3 is acceptable, but according to De Graaf, the avalanche danger scale works exponentially; the danger increases drastically as the level is scaled up.
Russian roulette
De Graaf emphasizes that skiers who have no knowledge of avalanches should really stay on the slopes, or should first study them thoroughly. “If you don’t do that, you don’t have the right equipment and the right knowledge. Then you have no business being off-piste. Don’t start, because you’re actually playing Russian roulette.”
For those who are not avalanche experts, but still want to go off-piste, De Graaf has clear advice. “Call the ski school or the guide office and only go skiing off-piste under the supervision of a guide.”
According to him, an avalanche beacon, a shovel and a long stick are an absolute must off-piste. A guide always carries these items with him. “You want to minimize the risk off-piste.” Especially because the emergency services can only arrive after at least ten minutes, it is very sensible to be able to carry out a rescue operation yourself, says De Graaf.
Avalanche training
Ski guide Jelle Staleman studied for eight years in Innsbruck to be able to assess the danger of snow and avalanches as accurately as possible. He sees that people take more risks on a winter sports holiday than in their daily lives.
“I compare that to driving 130 on the motorway. People think it is perfectly normal to get their driver’s license first before they drive 130.” But those same people do go skiing off-piste unprepared, says Staleman. “While acquiring the right knowledge and skills is considerably more difficult than getting your driver’s license.”
Now he trains ski instructors and teaches them how to deal with avalanches. “Sometimes I’m skiing somewhere and I have a strong suspicion that the snow is tense. If I make a sharp turn, I can trigger a small avalanche in a controlled manner.” He only does that to show ski instructors how great the dangers of an avalanche are.