EventReport | Sport Conrad Snow Safety Days

Day 2 - Practice on the Zugspitzplatt

Organisers and participants met early in the morning at the Ehrwald mountain railway on the Tyrolean side of the Zugspitze massif. Three groups were formed and each entrusted to a mountain guide. Once at the top, we took a group photo and then met up in individual groups at the Sonnalpin mountain lodge. In my group with mountain guide Ernst, we first discussed and explained the avalanche safety equipment. Then we turned our attention to the avalanche report - there were two, with little snow and an unfavourable snowpack. Then we went out! Ernst presented us with the scenario of an avalanche with one person buried and one searching. We went through all the steps in theory and then put them into practice. A backpack with an avalanche transceiver was buried and we were then all encouraged to search for it. Fine search, vocal communication and excavation were also presented, at least in theory. We then dug a snow profile, discussed the layer structure and measured snow temperatures. The temperatures were frosty and the weather was windy, so most of the group retired to the Sonnalpin with Ernst after the training. I went skiing with new friends while other groups were apparently still digging snow profiles. At the end of the day, everyone gathered again for pizza and beer at the valley station of the mountain railway and reviewed the day's experiences.