Adventure Magazine Issue 220

Avalanche
Words and Images by Mountain Safety Council
What comes to mind first when you think of
‘avalanche awareness’? Is it taking a training
course? Perhaps it’s making sure you have
avalanche rescue equipment and know how
to use it. Or, is it checking the New Zealand
Avalanche Advisory (NZAA) to find your
region’s avalanche forecast? They’re all
correct answers!
A
w areness
Getting the training, having (and knowing how
to use) the gear and checking the forecast
are the three essential steps to ensuring you
are prepared to head into the backcountry,
whether you are ski-touring, mountaineering,
ice climbing, or tackling a winter tramping trip.
But is that it, if you tick those boxes are you
good to go? Short answer is, you’re on the
right path, but as you probably expected there
is more to it. There are the more critical parts
of the process that require deeper thought and
consideration, and they probably don’t come
to mind quite as readily as they should.
Critical thinking and risk management requires
asking ourselves the more challenging
questions, like ’what does this forecast mean
for my route?’, ’what time of day am I going
to be in that avalanche terrain and what
will that mean?’, and even something as
simple as, ‘does this trip make sense right
now?’ Your group’s skill level and whether
everyone’s goals are aligned also needs to be
considered.
These considerations are the soft skills you
learn about during an avalanche course,
but they can’t be left there, they need to be
transferred into real life situations. Critical
thinking and risk management are essential
tools (and skills) that belong on every trip, just
like your skins or your crampons, and they
should be taken out and used just as often.
At the New Zealand Mountain Safety
Council (MSC) we do a huge amount of work
compiling and analysing outdoor recreation
data in order to gain insights into what
incidents are occurring and why.
When we take a detailed look into avalanche
incidents, it’s not surprising to find that
those more challenging questions and
considerations appear to either be glossed
over or overlooked entirely.
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