Survival Training: Day 4

Day four for me was avalanche and sea ice training.

The avalanche training was mainly how to spot areas that could possibly be dangerous, in terms of avalanches a gradient between 30 and 45 degrees is the main range for avalanches. You also have to take into account recent snow, temperature fluctuations and wind among other things. While doing this course we learned that the quicker you find the victim the better (obviously) but while at the 15 minute mark you would have a 92% survival chance, by 35 minutes that value has dropped to 32%. This 30 minute window means you need to be fast and efficient. This is where the practical part came in;

The practical aspect of  the training was learning the most efficient method of fast digging in groups and how to search a avalanche visually for clues for the victim. Most of the time groups of people who have gone out into the field have beacons which come in very useful in this situation as they can be set to either transmit or search mode. The beacons are set to transmit automatically, so if someone is buried they are already transmitting their position and can be found by the other beacons in search mode. We practised finding buried beacons to see how multiple signals can interfere.

The sea ice training was the most anticipated for many students as we had to jump into cold water. The theory part of this course explained how to look for problem ice and how to traverse ice safely. The staff often used stories from previous situations to make sure we understand what can happen and how easily accidents can occur if you are not suitably prepared or careful. The practical portion of this was to jump into a hole in the freshwater lake and then get out using ice picks. We were dressed in snow suits that were able to repel water for a short time and jump in. The water didn't get into the suits until half way across the hole but the adrenaline helped most people get across and out before the cold really set in. The ice picks were difficult to use in the hard freshwater ice and it was hard to pull yourself out quickly. After we were out we ran to the vehicle and waited for everyone to finish so we could leave and get warm.

Before we jumped into the hole we did a scenario where a victim fell into the water and had to be rescued by another person. While we worked as fast as possible to get our victim out he was still in the water for 3 minutes and on the ice for longer while we stripped off the snowsuit and wrapped him using the Hiblers technique. These practicals are useful for physically teaching us how to react in a situation and how fast you need to act to save someone. They are very interesting but exhausting. Only 2 more days to go!

Miriam