The mountain in winter has an added risk, the avalanches. An avalanche is the displacement of a layer of snow or earth slope down that can incorporate part of the substrate and vegetation cover of the hill, which can cause extensive destruction and cause many injuries and deaths among the community of mountaineers.

It is essential that you are always well equipped, with good camp boots, warm clothes and a backpack with everything you need and that you have a basic notion of survival, and if possible try to know if there is an emergency beacon nearby to send a signal for rescue in case of accidents.

What to Do?

There are numerous ways to prevent an avalanche through elementary processes:

Rod Test: consists of sticking the stick to check the hardness and thickness of the snow.

• If the first layer is soft and then we find a hard coat, we probably find fresh snow or melting. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the thickness of this thin layer depending on the slope of the mountain.
• If the first layer is hard and there is a weak layer underneath, we are facing a possible plate, and therefore we are facing an unstable situation.
• If the hardness increases as we nail the cane, we are in the most solid case. If we use the probe, we can check the total thickness, and we will notice better the different hardnesses of the various layers.

Test of the Slope: consists of placing on a slope of about 30 º / 45 º by pressing with the rackets or skis to check if it is stable. If something moves, it will show great instability.

Double Trace Test: opening a trace, we can open a second one or two meters above the first. The snow will be bare, and it is possible that it slips when we pass over or when giving a small jump.

Test of the Extended Column: it is to cut perpendicularly to the slope a rectangle of 30 cm high by 90 cm long; and with a maximum depth of 120 cm. You have to isolate the block and remove the snow on both sides of 30 cm and the front of 90 cm that is on the bottom of the slope of the mountain. We put the shovel on the rectangle, in contact with the snow, on one of the sides of the block.