Chapter 1

PROTECTIVE MEASURES
1-138. Avoiding known or suspected avalanche areas is the easiest method of protection. Other measures
include—

Personal Safety
1-139. Remove your hands from ski pole wrist straps. Detach ski runaway cords. Prepare to discard
equipment. Put your hood on. Close up your clothing to prepare for hypothermia. Deploy avalanche cord.
Make avalanche probes and shovels accessible. Keep your pack on at all times—do not discard. Your pack
can act as a flotation device, as well as protect your spine.

Group Safety
1-140. Send one person across the suspect slope at a time with the rest of the group watching. All
members of the group should move in the same track from safe zone to safe zone.

ROUTE SELECTION
1-141. Selecting the correct route will help avoid avalanche prone areas, which is always the best choice.
Always allow a wide margin of safety when making your decision.

The safest routes are on ridge tops, slightly on the windward side; the next safest route is out in
the valley, far from the bottom of slopes.

Avoid cornices from above or below. Should you encounter a dangerous slope, either climb to
the top of the slope or descend to the bottom—well out of the way of the run-out zone. If you
must traverse, pick a line where you can traverse downhill as quickly as possible. When you
must ascend a dangerous slope, climb to the side of the avalanche path, and not directly up the
center.

Take advantage of dense timber, ridges, or rocky outcrops as islands of safety. Use them for
lunch and rest stops. Spend as little time as possible on open slopes.

Since most avalanches occur within twenty-four hours of a storm and or at midday, avoid
moving during these periods. Moving at night is tactically sound and may be safer.

STABILITY ANALYSIS
1-142. Look for nature’s billboards on slopes similar to the one you are on.

Evidence of Avalanching
1-143. Look for recent avalanches and for signs of wind-loading and wind-slabs.

Fracture Lines
1-144. Avoid any slopes showing cracks.

Sounds
1-145. Beware of hollow sounds—a “whumping” noise. They may suggest a radical settling of the
snowpack.

SURVIVAL
1-146. People trigger avalanches that bury people. If these people recognized the hazard and chose a
different route, they would avoid the avalanche. Follow these steps if caught in an avalanche:

Discard equipment. Equipment can injure or burden you; discarded equipment will also indicate
your position to rescuers.

1-28

TC 3-97.61

26 July 2012