Avalanche Safety: Avalanche Safety: - The Alpine Club of Canada

An exciting new sport is developing in Europe: Competition Ski Mountaineering. The ACC is a supporter of this and began canvassingthe Canadian ski community during December 2001 to gauge the level of interest in ski mountaineering competition in order to assemblea two-person ‘national team’ as requested by the ISMC, to compete at the upcoming World Championships, January 23 - 27, in SerreChevalier, France. Enthusiasm ran high, but short notice combined with the fact that strong skiers are usually working skiers, meantthat many nominees found themselves unable to free up the time required to travel and compete. After much last minute arranging, PtorSpricenieks of Whistler and Rich Haywood of Squamish agreed to be the Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Competition Teamfor 2002. Wish our boys luck! You can find out more about the world championships, and ski mountaineering competitions generally,through www.ski-mountaineering.org. You can support and encourage the team effort through David Dornian, Chair, Canadian SkiMountaineering Competition Committee c/o The Alpine Club of Canada’s National Office (address on page 3).Terrible Weather Doesn’t Stop Braveryand Enthusiasmby Ian McNaughtDavis, President UIAAReprinted with permission fromThe Journal of the UIAAEuropean Ski MountaineeringThe Competitions were held in Jacain Spain over the weekend of March 3,2001. As it turned out this weekend was oneof the worst times for weather that I haveever spent in the mountains. For four daysthe rain was torrential and non stop with acloud level not far above the village. I cameto the conclusion that the rains in Spain donot fall mainly in the plains.I had often wondered how such acompetition could possibly take place inthose conditions and that it did actually takeplace was a tribute to all the participants,the volunteers from the ISMC, the GuardaCivil and from the staff of the resort itself.Quite soon it became quite clear thatthe original route covering several summitswould be impossible in impenetrable fogso a new track had to be laid out andsupervised to climb up a mountain and skiback down it, no lifts, no piste. The resortitself had plenty of snow but as the coldheavy rain fell it became almost unskiable.But we were optimists. At 7:30 AM we stoodin our waterproofs watching the competitorsarrive. We cowered out of the wind andrain in what little shelter there was; crowdedwith the participants, trainers, and a fewbrave supporters.Even some of the women competitorswere chanting for a cancellation, which Ithought quite smart, but it turned out thatthey were only joking.At 8:00 AM the juniors left, running upthe easy angled slope to the steeper slopesabove, the freezing rain driving throughtheir thin, colourful lycra vests. They werealready chilled by the wait for the start.Fifteen minutes later the women left withlots of cheering from the small crownof supporters. Half an hour later the22 Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Winter 2002seniors left looking rather better clad toface the inclement conditions than theirpredecessors. They disappeared into theclouds and we huddled on the veranda of abuilding trying to keep warm to await theirreturn.The regulations of ski mountaineeringsay that you should have two or three layersof clothing. I had six: thermal vest, woolshirt, wool pullover, fleece jacket, down skijacket and waterproof and I was cold andwet. I almost felt sorry for the competitorsand had difficulty imagining the conditionsabove.It wasn’t too long before I found out. Theyoungsters arrived wet, cold and distressedand collapsed into the arms of the line ofvolunteers awaiting to remove their skis,wrap them in a blanket and carry them intothe warming room to be rubbed down andfed hot drinks. More and more arrived andwere handled with care and kindness andonly five had to be taken to the clinic torecover. As they all returned careful checkswere made of numbers and finally theseniors arrived looking more comfortable intheir waterproofs.Photo by: Jaca PressGiven the conditions the organisationcould not have been better. There was painand suffering but they all recovered to cometo hear the final results and collect their cupsand medals. The presentation ceremonydidn’t quite go as planned and the awardswere in one corner of a large room and therostrum in another. There were delays andthe French team went home, sadly leavinggaps on the winners platform. But thiswas all forgotten as the Belgian team cameforward. Because they had skied togetherand held hands as they crossed the finishingline, they all ended up first and insisted onclimbing and balancing on the number oneplatform to be presented with their medals.Their humour and enthusiasm delightedeveryone.It was a great test for all, especiallythe competitors and the organisers. Theconditions were exceptionally bad, but theshow went on and it was a credit to everyonethere that it was all done in a spirit oftolerance and good humour. It is, however,better on a sunny day.