Tourenplanung

White Risk, the SLF's comprehensive learning/knowledge tool for avalanche prevention, has been around for several years now. While version 1.0 was still distributed via DVDs, White Risk has been web-based and interactive since 2013. The White Risk app for IOS and Android is also available so that you can use the planned tours on your smartphone. I tried out how well the whole thing actually works for you using a tour to the Seekarspitze as an example

Level 2 with and from risk'n'fun focuses on the baseline topics "perceive - judge - decide", group-dynamic soft skills, avalanche and accident management as well as cartography and tour planning.

Stephan Harvey, a natural scientist and mountain guide, has been working at the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, SLF, in Davos for over 20 years. In addition to publishing several books on avalanche awareness, he is the man behind the well-known avalanche prevention platform, White Risk. In this interview, the avalanche expert talks to us about innovations at White Risk.

"Is this usable for me or too technical?" - These were exactly the thoughts I had when I received an invitation from the SLF to give a presentation on skitourenguru.ch and the quantitative reduction method (QRM). I had had no previous contact with the QRM and the Skitourenguru platform was also largely unknown to me.

Lisa Hempfer, winner of this year's risk'n'fun camp competition on PowderGuide.com, reports from the Next Level Camp on the Kitzsteinhorn. After injuring her knee during a training session at the beginning of the season, she was fortunately able to take part in the second training level after a speedy recovery. The Next Level Camp is primarily about independent tour planning and execution.

The OpenSlopeMap project, founded by skiing software developers Peter Schnappauf and Reini Riedl, offers freely accessible online slope maps for the Alpine region on a non-commercial basis. There are some interesting new features for the new season:

With White Risk, the SLF has been offering a very comprehensive and intuitive license-based e-learning tool for avalanche prevention for many years. In the 2016/17 season, the tool will be presented in a completely revised version. We tried out the tour planning features on a ski tour in Brandnertal.

It's already been a while since the session in Sölden and winter has been a little slow so far. Nevertheless, given the tricky situation we had in many areas in January, I still had a few opportunities to put what I had learned into practice. Above all, the aspect of "perception", which is one of the three pillars of the risk'n'fun concept, is now much more pronounced for me than before. And now the "Next Level" on the Kitzsteinhorn. The focus here is on independent tour planning - I'm particularly looking forward to that. I hope that after a few days I'll finally be able to read maps properly!

It is early winter 2017 and the Eastern Alps are once again experiencing a pronounced old snow problem in some areas. You can't put enough energy into preventing old snow problems, as avalanche accidents show. So we are taking prophylactic measures.

There are many online aids for tour planning and risk assessment that go beyond the classic tools such as maps, guides, avalanche bulletins and conditions reports. They are particularly relevant at the start of the season or when half of your friends are already spending their free time at the outdoor pool and there is hardly any information available from the warning services.

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.

Two skiing software developers were dissatisfied with the range of free slope maps available online and created their own map without further ado. The OpenSlopeMap covers Austria, South Tyrol, Bavaria and Slovenia, can be used online and offline and is free of charge. Developer Peter Schnappauf on the OpenSlopeMap project: