How to behave when winter hiking

If you still wish to venture off the marked routes, you should definitely take the following basic equipment with you:

• A shovel, avalanche probe and avalanche transceiver are essential items and must be carried at all times. It is important to familiarise yourself with the basic equipment before setting off on your first tour. You should know how to assemble the probe and use it in an emergency, how to use the shovel most effectively, and how the avalanche transceiver works and how to use it.
• A mobile phone or satellite phone provides a link to civilisation, and someone should also be informed of your route and schedule.
• An orientation aid such as a GPS and a map.
• Sufficient drinks, something small to eat and a first aid kit.

A tour away from the marked slopes should be planned carefully, taking the following points into account:

• Exposure
• Slope gradient
• Wind and weather forecasts
• Time of the tour
• Avalanche bulletin (updated at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.)
• Observe protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries

Buried person:

• If possible, escape to the side of the danger zone

• Remove poles and snowshoes to minimise the risk of injury

• Keep to the surface with swimming movements

• Close your mouth, put your arms in front of your face and, if possible, create a hollow space so that you can breathe when the avalanche stops.

Observers or accompanying persons:

• Keep calm

• As an observer, you should memorise the point at which the victim disappeared and, if possible, mark the area

• Ideally, you should be travelling as a group and divide up the tasks, with some searching and others raising the alarm.

• Start the search with the avalanche transceiver as quickly as possible. First follow the strongest signal, then narrow the radius more and more, probe and then start digging. Expose the airways as quickly as possible and remain at the accident site until the rescue services arrive.

• Every second counts after a fall. Rescuing casualties is a race against time, which is why good preparation is very important.

• Only in the first 15 minutes do the victims have a good chance of survival, after that the chances decrease rapidly. It is therefore vital to always tour in company. Rescue by companions is of particular importance, as they are on site before the rescuers arrive.

Preparation is everything! Once you have planned your tour, taken the above factors into account and familiarised yourself with the basic equipment, you can prevent an accident.

Enjoy the snow-covered slopes, but don't forget the potential dangers.