Lawinenkunde

White Risk is a four-language, web-based avalanche prevention platform (www.whiterisk.ch) and consists of the EXPLORE, LEARN, TOUR and PRO modules. The platform is a comprehensive interactive reference work on avalanche awareness and also includes a tour planning tool (TOUR) with a link to the mobile app.

The leaflet "Attention Avalanche" is a foldable flyer to take away, which is used during training and can be consulted as a reminder and mental aid in the terrain and when planning tours. The leaflet has been revised and reissued. You can download it free of charge here (print, fold, insert...).

There are a lot of things in snow and avalanche science that can be classified as wrong or at least need to be put into perspective. Misunderstanding of complex contexts also plays a role in this respect. We clear up some of them and explain what you should memorize instead.

Last weekend, PG ConditionsReporters and editorial team members got together for the traditional end-of-season get-together. PowderGuide wouldn't be what it is without the dedicated input of the extended community and especially the ConditionsReporters, so it's always nice to get together once a year in as large a group as possible and talk about all sorts of things. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who couldn't make it to the meeting! Thank you very much for your commitment this season!

For most freeriders and ski tourers, it is a matter of course to think about questions like: What does the situation report say? How is the weather, how is the snow? Was it windy, is there fresh drift snow? Is the snowpack structure favorable? We know that we have to be aware of our surroundings if we want to move safely in avalanche terrain. However, we often forget to consider ourselves and our behavior in the group. The SLF has developed a checklist to help prevent problems with group dynamics.

Digging snow profiles and recording them correctly requires a great deal of experience, starting with the question of site selection through to determining the layers. However, reading standard recorded profiles is less complicated than it may seem at first glance. Lukas Ruetz explains it below using an example from the Sellrain. The profile discussed, like many others, can be found in the LAWIS database of the Austrian avalanche warning services and all notations correspond to those used there. Other organizations sometimes use slightly different forms, but the basic principles and the symbols for the grain shape remain the same.

Avalanche accidents with injuries or even fatalities are rarely solely due to snowpack structure, terrain and weather. Rather, one particular element often plays the most important role: when people are traveling in groups, decisions are made that are not always the best ones and can end tragically in the worst case.

With WhiteRisk, the SLF has been offering an online platform for several years that primarily serves to prevent accidents and impart knowledge. For the 2015/16 season, there are some new features and expanded offerings.

In addition to the avalanche app from the Tyrolean LWD, there is now a quiz app from the same company with which you can playfully improve your knowledge on the subject of avalanches and snowpack structure.

Exactly three years ago, I ended my ski season in Fieberbrunn: a few last turns including the obligatory sunburn. However, the friendly lady at the tourist office drew my attention to the chill-out weekend organized by Risk'n'Fun. The crowning final event of an association which, as part of the Austrian Alpine Association (OEAV), undoubtedly does exceptional work in terms of avalanche awareness and training young freeriders.

Every winter sports enthusiast who ventures into open terrain is faced with the decision to ski or ski down slopes that harbor an avalanche risk. As assessing the avalanche risk is a very complex matter, there are a number of different methods that are designed to do just that: Two experts and "their" methods will be presented at the avalanche colloquium in Salzburg on 15.01.2014.

The organizers SPURart - Design your line, SAAC - snow & avalanche awareness camps, Projekt Berg & Freeride-Map invite you to an avalanche lecture entitled "Die Lawinen reissen an" on Thursday, 27 March 2014.