Workshops

Avalanche Transceiver Workshop

An avalanche transceiver is only as efficient as the person using it. Many people adopt the ‘It will never happen to me’ attitude and think that by merely wearing a transiever they are imunising themselves from all risk. Unfortunately this can result in even experienced skiers and climbers being injured -or worse.

We run this course as an introduction for beginners and as a top up for experienced skiers.

Introductory Course

The workshop starts in a controlled location, usually a pisted area. First we will learn the basics about your personal avalanche transceivers. We’ll then move to more difficult terrain and look at how to perform efficient rescues using simple and reliable techniques. You will cover the following;

Basic simple simulated searches. Probing and digging techniques. Complex scenarios with more than one burial.

Advanced and Refresher courses

The Advanced and Refresher courses will recap the above and then move on to more complex mulitple burials on more realistic steep terrain covering larger areas. We’ll look in detail at how to organise search parties for efficient rescue on difficult terrain.

The conditions of a burial can vary highly, depending on the size of the avalanche, the type of slide, and the number of burials. Thus, practicing searches is essential training for any ski mountaineer. A groups ability to work together as a team cannot be overstated. As avalanche searches are highly stressful situations, the skills learned for both single and multiple searches are paramount.

Having done either of the above workshops will not make you invinsible - you need to practice what you have learnt on a regular basis if you want to be able to rescue avalanched friends before it is too late.

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