ARTICLES

What is an avalanche?

An avalanche is masses snow, ice and rocks that fall downs from a mountainside. An avalanche can be and go really fast. So if the danger is near, you need to directly know how to act and what to do. If you don't know what to do, it maybe can cause your life. Because when you are getting buried in an avalanche you can't move. You can't do anything and the oxygen is getting weaker and weaker until is gone. The whole process is going to go very fast and if you don't know how to act, it's the end. Avalanches can be triggered by wind, rain, warming temperatures, snow and earthquakes. They can also be triggered by skiers, snowmobiles, hikers, vibrations from machinery or construction. Avalanches occur often in the Alps, Canada and other skiing places.

How can it kill you?

When you get that big amount of loose snow over you that covers all tiny space that exists, you will not get much air to breathe. The small amount of air that exists is becoming thinner and thinner all the time. If you stress the air will end faster. You can't move and everything you can see is just black. That panic is hard to image, but it is a panic that can cause your life. Because when you get panic you are going to breath faster, the air will end. If you try to take it easy the air will not end that fast and your friends will have more time to find you. If you don't have any friends it is really hard to not get killed.

How do you avoid an avalanche?

But now we are coming to the part how to avoid an avalanche. It is really hard to say what to do in an avalanche to not get killed. First of all, all situations are different and there are no things that you exactly can do. Second of all, I am not a pro but I hope my voice can do something. But there are some things that many should know about and do to make the mountains safer. My goal is to inform people about the information that I can give to make the mountains safer so people have a clue how to act and what to do.

There are some things that you can do before you do a lesson before you go out in the mountains. Because you need to do a lesson with professional teachers that shows you in detail how to act and what to do.

1. First of all, it is really important that you know you have all the right stuff you need to have to save your life if you end up in an avalanche. This picture down below is a really important support that you need to have. It is an avalanche airbag. The backpack is really important to save your life because it has been showed that it can save lives.

How does it work?

In an avalanche bigger objects rise up to the surface, small objects sink to the bottom. A backpack with an incorporated airbag that has a big balloon. The balloon that inflates at the pull of a cord, is designed to make people wear larger so they naturally rise up to the surface. When you then are buried in the avalanche is it going to be much easier for the other people to find you at the right time.

Where can I get the information to survive an avalanche?

In the Alps, you can often find different pieces of training to practice avalanches and how to act. If you go out off-piste it is a really big recommendation to go out with a professional guide that knows what he/she is doing. Because they have it as their job and really have the right knowledge.

My recommendation is to not go out alone in the mountains and go out with a professional guide. The guide will show you and explain to you what to do if an avalanche is coming. Every time the guide will be close to you and make sure that you have got the right knowledge to go out and be safe in the mountains. That is a big factor why people die in an avalanche because they don't have the knowledge and the right information. They go out alone when they not should, which costs people's lives.

If you live in Stockholm there is great training in Stockholm that https://rapaporthargin.com/ is originating. Then you pick up your backpack at Alpingaraget, then go out to Hammarbybacken for a lesson. Well, there you get really good information from professional people that know what they are talking about. When I am going to go out on off-piste