What To Do If Someone is Buried in an Avalanche
Survival Rate of a Person Dug Out from Under Snow in 15 mins is 93%
Mar 21, 2009
Time is of the essence. It is essential that members of the avalanche victims party search immediately with the resources at their disposal. If a rescue is alerted at the outset, the fastest they will be at the scene on average is 30 minutes. This is half the victims survival chance.
Avalanche Statistics (Bruser 1993)
- A buried victim has a 93% survival chance if dug out in 15 minutes
- 89% of avalanche victims are male, in their 20's and ¾ of victims are experienced backcountry recreationists.
- In 90% of avalanche incidents, the victim or someone in the victim's party triggers the avalanche.
- Nearly 20% of people avalanched will die before the avalanche stops.
- 60% of avalanche victims who died whilst buried were showing something on the surface.
If someone in a party is buried the following steps can be taken.
What to Do in an Avalanche
- Shout AVALANCHE! to warn members of the group of the immediate threat.
- Keep a keen eye on the casualty as they are carried down the slope, paying particular attention to the last seen point.
- When the avalanche stops, stay calm. Ascertain if there is further avalanche danger before venturing onto the slope.
- Establish escape routes (safe directions to ski, run etc . . . if another avalanche threatens).
- As part of a large group: If there's no mobile phone coverage, send someone immediately for help, providing it is safe for them to travel alone.
- Post one member as guard in a safe location away from the avalanche path to sound alarm.
- Do a quick visual search of the avalanche debris, looking for surface clues - a glove (is there a hand in it?) , a ski pole, ice axe . . . , beginning with the last seen point. Mark any clues. The victim is likely to be buried in the trajectory marked out by these clues. This can narrow down the search area.
- It is important that no rescuers leave anything on the search area or contaminate the site with food, urine . . . in the event that avalanche search dogs are called in.
- Ensure every party member on the surface turns their transceiver to receive, or turns it 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 meters, 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.
It is important that there is a designated leader of the search operation if the group is large and there are multiple burials.
The points above give a brief explanation of how to use an avalanche transceiver or beacon, probe and shovel. For a more comprehensive explanation go to the Canadian Avalanche Centre. Nothing can replace field training. The best preventative approach for back country enthusiasts is to take an avalanche safety course. Avalanches almost always have obvious signs. With some avalanche training and preparation an avalanche incident can be avoided most of the time.
Related articles on this topic include Avalanche Search and Rescue Equipment and the Three A's of Avalanche Terrain.
Reference:
Bruser, O. 1993. Swiss Federal Institute for the Study of Snow and Avalanche, Davos. Quoted in Barton, B. and Diggins, M. 2001, European Avalanche School: Avalanche Manual. 2nd ed. Section 6.
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