Search and Rescue

Search and rescue is a term that means a lot of different things. To winter recreationists travelling in avalanche terrain, it should mean two things: professional rescue services (organized search and rescue) and the capabilities a party has for dealing with an avalanche emergency. This is known as self-rescue or companion rescue. The goal, of course, is to never have to use these skills, by making good decisions based on skills and experience. However, there is always a certain element of uncertainty and even avalanche professionals can be involved in an avalanche incident. When stuff happens, you better have a good way to deal with it.

Organized Rescue

In Canada, organized avalanche rescue and emergency evacuation services on public lands are provided by a variety of government agencies, volunteer groups and private sector operators. The exception is in National Parks where search and rescue services are provided by the park warden service and funded through park user fees. It is important to know and understand the capabilities, limitations and constraints of search and rescue organizations in Canada. Response times to an avalanche incident will vary greatly depending on location, jurisdiction and proximity of trained rescue personnel, avalanche dogs and helicopters. Given the slim chances of survival after more than 15 minutes of burial, in this country, it is highly unlikely that an organized avalanche rescue response to locate, extricate and evacuate a buried avalanche victim will result in a survival situation. The exception is with commercial operators who have developed an internal organized rescue capability for their operation that can respond immediately and within that 15 minute time frame. A party's ability with self-rescue skills for dealing with an avalanche incident is critical.

Self Rescue

Since this is the first response, it must be effective in order to maximize a positive outcome. Self-rescue capability requires adequate emergency equipment and the skills to use it. Every member of the party must have a beacon, shovel and probe. There should be at least one first aid kit in the party. For parties out for the day, there should be enough equipment to survive a night out if necessary. This would include the skills to build an emergency snow shelter and material to light a fire if near treeline. Barbeque lighting bricks or something similar are light and can make this task easier particularly in wet conditions. Taking the time to simulate and practice a realistic avalanche accident will pay off if you are ever facing the real thing. Time yourself to see how practice makes perfect. Remember, time is your enemy and 15 minutes will go by very fast. That said, there is remarkable story from Norway where a boy survived a 2.3-meter burial for 2.5 hours. Don't give up! Your practice scenario should include multiple burials. Use a safe location but use a slope where walking without skis is difficult, to make it realistic.

Leadership

Someone needs to take charge and organize the rest of the party. By using good safety measures, there are hopefully more people on the surface than under the snow.

Further Hazard

Is there any residual hazard and is it safe to work on the avalanche site particularly since beacons will be in search mode. Remember, you have likely been wrong about stability once already since you have been caught. You may want to consider posting a lookout in a safe location. This will be a difficult decision, as you want to maximize the number of searchers.

Initial Search

Determine how many people are missing. It is critical for everyone to have his or her beacon in search mode. Pay particular attention to beacons with an automatic revert to send mode. When there are different beacon models in the group, everyone should be familiar with the basic functions of the other beacons. The beacon search should be done in conjunction with a thorough visual search for partial burials and articles as clues. You want to be able to locate someone with your beacon quickly and be able to deal with multiple burial situations. Probes and shovels should be assembled quickly in order to do the final location and extrication. Probe poles are a poor substitute for a real probe. Modern probes are very light, fast to assemble and do not have the taper and ferrule limitations of probe poles. If there are enough searchers, random probing of likely areas can result in quick location.

Digging and Extrication

Being fast with a beacon is not all that matters. One of the big time wasters in extricating a buried person is inefficient shovelling. This is often overlooked in training courses. Madly flailing with a shovel does not save time. This is where small flimsy "emergency" shovels don't cut it. You want to think about where to start shovelling in relation to burial depth.

One vertical cut followed by one or two side cut to create a block with a side roughly equivalent to the size of the shovel blade is efficient and fast.

Proper Shoveling Techniques

If the burial depth is greater than a meter, starting to dig right at the probe location will not work. You need to start away from the center and ideally be moving snow in a downhill direction. If there are two people available to dig, it is usually easier to have them dig rapidly one at a time and spell one another off as soon as they start to tire. It is often easier to have two people shovelling quickly and have them replaced often. Be careful when you get close to the victim. Shovels and probes can seriously injure a person. Clearing the face to allow the person to breathe is the priority. Turn the victim's beacon off as soon as possible to facilitate searching for others. Once everyone is found, put all beacons back on send mode.

First Aid

Although the primary concern is suffocation, avalanche victims are often injured. In fact trauma is frequently the cause of death. As with any first aid situation, the ABCs protocols are to be followed. Hypothermia is a potential complication to avalanche burial. In multiple burial situations, difficult decisions may be required on whether to continue with resuscitation attempts or to continue the search for others, depending on how many rescuers and how many victims there are.

Evacuation and Calling for Help

Once everyone is accounted for and injuries are treated, you will need to consider evacuating injured victims. This is where having good communication capability will make a difference. If this is not available, you will need to send someone for help. Ideally, it should be two strong members of the group. Organized rescue services will need to know the location, time of the accident, number of people to evacuate and nature of injuries. Knowing the weather and the terrain at site is required to make an assessment on helicopter access and landing sites. GPS coordinates are very useful but should be in Latitude and Longitude as most helicopters are programmed for this. If you decide to move to a different location for safety considerations, keep in mind that moving below treeline may complicate helicopter access. Be prepared to spend the night out.

Communications

In the event of an avalanche or any other incident where a request will be made for outside assistance from a rescue organization, a reliable way to call for help is needed. Some people like the idea of programmable radios that can access mountain top repeaters that are located in a number of locations. These repeaters are not there for public use and accessing them requires permission from the owner and a licence for the radio. More importantly, their coverage is very limited and unreliable. Cell phones are virtually useless in most backcountry areas. Satellite phones have come a long way over the past few years in terms of size, reliability and price. They are the most reliable way to access outside assistance and can be rented for short durations.

Of course, it is important to know the local emergency numbers for the areas in question and have them readily available. Dialling 911 on a satellite phone will not work. You will get either a recording announcing that the service is unavailable or get the company's office thousands of miles away. Keep the communication concise so that the critical information gets through immediately, in case the phone link fails. Something like "avalanche accident at Big Powder Creek headwaters, two people still buried, two injured on the surface. Our call back number is 999.888.777" is often all most emergency response agencies will need.

When you're making a decision, consider the implications if your wrong. Decision making and taking and using all the information and coming up with a decision is obviously a good thing and knowing enough to make a call, but if you make a mistake, what is it going to mean?