My wife describes it as blend of wet Labrador and men's locker-room. It's a good idea to carry a lightweight (silk) sleeping-bag liner; it is certainly more comfortable and hygienic, and many Austrian huts insist on you using one. A few huts have gone over to duvets, and they are certainly an improvement.
It's a good idea to make up your bed as soon as possible. You may be allowed to take your rucksack into the dormitory. Failing that there are often baskets available so that you can unpack your rucksack and keep essential items handy inside the hut. During the touring season breakfast is usually at a set hour, and it is normal to be woken by the guardian; in any case, set your alarm. You are expected to fold your blankets and leave your space as you found it.
Meals
Evening meals are normally served between 6 and 8pm. Food is usually brought to the table, and you serve it out with the others on the table. Evening meals are usually three courses: soup, a meat and veg/pasta dish, followed by a simple desert. You can buy wine, beer and other drinks at most huts, but it's better to get them before dinner is served, as the kitchen often gets frantic at meal times. At the end of the meal, you are expected to take your dishes back to the serving hatch to be cleaned. There is usually a bowl of water and cloth provided to wipe down the table after you have finished. In Austrian huts you have a choice of a simple, filling set meal, bergsteigeressen, which is quite inexpensive, or you can chose something more elaborate and expensive.
Breakfast is usually a bit of a rush, so you would be advised to organise yourself the night before. You will normally get a hot drink, bread, butter and jam, and in some huts cereal and juice.
Departure
Some huts like you to pay up the night before. Certainly if you want a quick start, it is a good idea. Remember to collect your club/reciprocal rights card if you were asked to deposit it and to ensure you have a full water bottle before you leave the hut.
Avalanche Awareness
When people and snowy mountains meet the potential for avalanches exists. Every skier should make it their business to understand avalanche phenomena. They are not an act of God; in fact about 80% of avalanche victims trigger the avalanche they get caught in.
Avalanche awareness – you have been warned
During a ski tour the risk of avalanche is a constant danger that must be faced whenever your skis are on the mountain. Assessing risk ultimately depends on your knowledge and the care you take in assessing the danger. The process doesn't need to be a lengthy one that will spoil a good day on the hill, but it does need to be a systematic one, both before and during a tour. A systematic approach will enable you to gather key information that will allow you to make an informed judgement about snow stability and avalanche hazard.
On tour, assessment of avalanche danger should be gained from gathering observed facts about the terrain, the snowpack, past and present weather, and from slope stability tests.
Ask yourself these questions:
What information do I have that makes me think this slope is stable?
What is the likely outcome for our group should the slope avalanche?
Do we have an agreed emergency proceedure in place if it does?
First, the good news is that, if the victim is alive after the initial impact, they have an 80% chance of survival if dug out in the first 12 minutes. But after that the news is not so good. It is thought that unless recovery is made within 30 minutes, an avalanche victim's chances of survival are less than 50/50.
The fact is that less than one-third of those buried survive, and this doesn't refer to deep burial. For those buried under less than 50cm of snow the survival rate is around 45%. At more than 2 metres only 1% survive, and below 3 metres…?
Best Practice
It is ‘best practice’ to:
avoid obvious avalanche danger
adopt safe procedures when travelling and, in the event of an avalanche, not to rely on others outside your group for rescue.
Rescue, if it is to be successful, must come from your own party, and speed is the all-important factor. Speed comes from planning, preparation and practice.
THE HARD FACTS
Here are some hard avalanche facts based on Swiss statistics.
Of skiers completely buried by an avalanche only 4 in 10 survive.
Over a recent period 1347 people were known to have survived partial or complete burial by avalanche. Of these:39% dug themselves out34% were dug out by survivors on the scene27% were recovered by rescue teams – but most of these were near ski resorts.
In that same period close to 1000 died – two-thirds by suffocation.
The Three Essentials
To maximise speed of rescue there are three ‘must have’ bits of equipment for every off-piste skier and ski tourer.
Transceiver – Owning one will not stop you getting caught in an avalanche, but if you are buried it is almost your only hope of being found – dead or alive. A transceiver is not a substitute for good practice, it is part of it. Route planning, route choice and constant avalanche awareness are the basic ways to minimise risk.
Every skier going off-piste or touring should have a transceiver. However, it is not enough to own one: you must wear it and know how to use it in an emergency. That skill only comes from practice, regular and realistic practice against the clock – remember the first 12–15 minutes are all-important. Get into the habit of turning your transceiver on when you put it on in the morning and leaving it on until you return in the evening. Never turn your transceiver off during the day to save the battery. It is all too easy to forget to turn it on again.
Having turned your transceiver on make sure you carry out a transceiver check both on leaving the hut and at other times during the day, especially after rest stops. Rather than standing around in a huddle and checking transceivers work when you are standing next to each other, get one person to ski away (say 30m) from the group with their transceiver in receive mode. Then one at a time the group members with their transceivers in transmit mode ski towards the person on receive. As soon as the person receiving picks up a signal they should signify it. This gives a good indication of signal strength, which seems to vary amongst different makes of transceiver. Someone should then check that the person on receive is also transmitting correctly. Everyone should carry spare batteries on a long tour.
Digging a snow pit and looking for weaknesses in the profile
Snow shovel – It is not enough to have one or two shovels in a group of four or six skiers. Everyone should carry an avalanche shovel. One reason why I like touring with North American clients is the size of their shovels! They carry big metal-bladed things that can shift snow fast, not flimsy things the size of desert spoons. This really is a case of size being important. Don't bother with tiny blades that attach to ice axes or ski poles that bend the moment they come into contact with hard snow. If you were buried what would you want your rescuers to use? A JCB!
Avalanche
