Other Skiing Hazards
Skiing is dangerous, take care
Probably the biggest hazard when ski-mountaineering and off-piste skiing is from Avalanches. See our Avalanche page for more details.
On this page some other hazards commonly encountered when skiing away from the relative safety of patrolled pistes are discussed. These hazards include, but are not limited to, Crevasses, Rockfall, Climbing & Steep Ground Hazards, Equipment failure, Getting Lost, Miscellaneous Hazards.
On the plus side, collisions with other people, one of the biggest causes of accidents for piste skiers, are much less likely when you're ski mountaineering!
Crevasses
Crevasses are probably the second major hazard after avalanches for off-piste skiers and ski-tourers. Falls into crevasses of more than a half metre or so can be very serious and result in fatalities every year. It is common practice to rope up on a glacier in summer, and this largely mitigates any risk of falling far enough into a crevasse to do yourself any damage.
However for obvious reasons skiers don't like to rope up too often. Although it's not uncommon to rope together to ski uphill through bad crevasse zones skiing downhill roped up is not at all easy to do, and in bad crevasse zones its not necessarily any safer.
In their favour a number of factors make skiing safer than walking on a glacier in summer. Generally skiers go out in the spring months when - hopefully- plenty of winter snowfall has bridged and sealed many of the crevasses, and also when overnight temperatures are low enough to regularly re-freeze snow-bridges. By spreading your weight more evenly your skis lessen the chance of a weak bridge breaking, and the length of the ski will also mean that you are naturally bridging across smaller crevasses.
However ski tourers do fall into crevasses and die, on my last two Alpine trips I have witnessed such incidents. As far as I know the main cause of both deaths was head-injuries, and it may be worth considering skiing with a helmet for this reason.
Skiing roped together is not at all easy to do downhill. If possible practice it before having to do it for real (even just by roping up a few hundred metres before the crevasse zone). The best advice is to ski slowly and smoothly, probably with everyone snowploughing. It seems best to carry a few coils in your hand (2-3 metres of rope) which can be paid out and in to avoid skiing over the rope and be aware of the catapult effect that can shoot the last person wide on a turn.
In many crevasse zones, if the bridges are reasonably good and the turns between crevasses complex, roping -up is probably not a good idea. The difficulties of skiing with the rope will probably increase the chances of someone going off course and into a crevasse.
You have been warned.
Rockfall & Icefall
No pictures.. Every time I have had a rock coming towards me I've been too busy watching it or running away to get my camera out. Rockfall and falling ice are generally not a huge hazard when ski touring, but be careful on warm sunny spring days, or when the sun first hits a rock wall high above you and melts out the previous nights ice.... Serac zones should be treated with healthy respect too.... give them a very wide margin of safety, big blocks of ice can slide an amazingly long way (we're talking 100's of metres if not kilometres).
Equipment Failure
All sorts of things can go wrong with your equipment, but the two things most likely to end up being hazardous are probably a binding failure or a skin failure. Skis breaking are another less common hazard. In all these case as I have learned the big problem is you can suddenly be many hours from shelter, with deep snow to cross on foot, which can be extremely tiring.... that last one hour ski down to a hut through beautiful powder at sunset can quite quickly become a nightmare four hour walk in the dark if your binding breaks....
Deep snow and poor visibility ion a glacier in Austria... without skis this stuff would have been bottomless.
Take a good spares kit, with lots of tools, wire, glue and zip-ties for making repairs. On more remote trips even including a spare pole, spare binding or even spare ski.
Getting Lost
This is a fairly major hazard when ski touring in quieter places where there are not tracks and large groups of people to follow. There is one particular hazard that skiers can get themselves and that is the infamous white-out, when snow on the ground and mist or fog in the air mean you cannot see anything at all, not even a horizon. It becomes difficult to navigate, dangerous (from the risk of skiing over a cornice or into a crevasse) and difficult to ski, because it will frequently become hard to tell whether you are even moving or not..
Can't see the wood for the trees.....tricky navigation and walking in Central Patagonia......
........and even trickier.... whiteout navigation conditions on the summit of Cairn Lochan, Scottish Cairngorms. Spot the five skiers!
A GPS and altimeter are highly recommended for navigation on skis in poor visibility whether caused by cloud and snow or due to thick forest (see above!). With a good map you can program in the co-ordinates of your destination (e.g. Alpine hut, Car Park) in advance. In all cases you can take waypoints on your way and at least get back to where you started. But remember a GPS is not going to stop you skiing into a crevasse, or under an avalanche prone slope - you still need to think very carefully about what you are doing if you are out in serious weather.
If you don't have a GPS then at least get an altimeter, because when skiing downhill judging how far you have travelled can be extremely difficult. A compass can also be useful, though less so than when you're walking. Finally, and most important, is a map and the ability to read it well.
Miscellaneous Hazards
There are lots of other hazards associated with ski mountaineering. Some of the most bizarre I have come across include:--
sharing a cable car with a sheep at Isenfluh in Switzerland,
riding on an old soviet piste-basher in Armenia,
crossing deep rivers in Patagonia,
following a Puma (Cougar) in the Coast range, British Columbia (see picture below).
Puma footprint in Canada......
Danger lurks everywhere - Swiss railways sign at Madulain.
Probably the biggest hazard when ski-mountaineering and off-piste skiing is from Avalanches. See our Avalanche page for more details.
Been somewhere interesting with your skis or snowboard? - please send us info and photos for this website.
