International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings - Montana State University Library

Item: Slalom Probing - A Survival Chance Optimized Probe Line Search Strategy

• • Title: Slalom Probing - A Survival Chance Optimized Probe Line Search Strategy

    Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2014 Proceedings, Banff, Canada

    Authors:

    • Manuel Genswein  [ ICAR Avalanche Commission Workgroup “Probing Strategies”, Meilen, Switzerland ]
    • Dominique Letang  [ President of the ICAR Avalanche Commission, Director of the French Avalanche Institute ANENA, Grenoble, France ]
    • Fred Jarry  [ French Avalanche Institute ANENA, Grenoble, France ]  [ ICAR Avalanche Commission Workgroup “Probing Strategies”, Grenoble, France ]
    • Ingrid Reiweger  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland ]
    • Dale Atkins  [ ICAR Avalanche Commission Workgroup “Probing Strategies”, Vail, CO USA ]  [ Recco AB, Sweden ]

    Date: 2014-09-29

    Abstract: Probe line searches are an important tool for organized avalanche rescue. Since electronic search means or avalanche dogs are not always available, probe line searches still need to be applied. In France, the percentage of buried subjects which were found by probe lines in the period winter 2001/2002 to 2010/2011 was 13.2% and decreased for the period 2006/2007 to 2010/2011 only to 11%. As survival chances of avalanche burials drop rapidly with increasing burial time, the biggest drawback of probe line searches are their slow area search speed. Since the efficiency of a rescue system is based on its potential to save lives, it is important to find the highest survival chance of an avalanche burial as a balance between area search speed and probability of detection. The ICAR Avalanche Commission task group "probe line strategies" therefore further optimized the current probe line search methods. Analysis of the physical effort and efficiency of the rescuer lead to the "Slalom Probing" method. Within this approach each rescuer covers a 1m broad strip of the avalanche debris which he or she probes walking in a "slalom" pattern across the strip. The method is designed with sufficient error tolerance to allow for uninterrupted flow of the probing activity. The rescuer always probes right in front of his or her body, perpendicular to the slope angle. The total ergonomic and organizational benefits of our new method lead to 33-50% increase of the probed surface compared to existing probing methods.

    Object ID: ISSW14_paper_O15.03.pdf

    Language of Article: English

    Presenter(s):

    Keywords: Avalanche Rescue, Probe Line, Survival Chance

    Page Number(s): 413-418

  • Get Full Article

Back to Home page