Seriously, even if you know what you are doing avalanches are nothing to fool around with. Any off-piste hiking, skiing or snow-shoeing can be extremely hazardous. For example, the IT department I work for lost a 54-year-old electrician to an avalanche last year. This was a man who had been practicing ''alpanisme'' for 40 years!
I probably wouldn't be so alarmist if it weren't for the weather this year. Because of the unusually warm winter in Switzerland the avalanche danger is extreme. While there is quite a bit of snow at higher altitudes it is layered with sheets of ice which makes the risk of the snow getting loose from the ice acute. If you must do off-piste snowshowing please do it next year, preferably during january or early february when the air should be cold enough to keep everything well stuck.
Mark
The alps can (and do) kill
Seriously, even if you know what you are doing avalanches are nothing to fool around with. Any off-piste hiking, skiing or snow-shoeing can be extremely hazardous. For example, the IT department I work for lost a 54-year-old electrician to an avalanche last year. This was a man who had been practicing ''alpanisme'' for 40 years!
I probably wouldn't be so alarmist if it weren't for the weather this year. Because of the unusually warm winter in Switzerland the avalanche danger is extreme. While there is quite a bit of snow at higher altitudes it is layered with sheets of ice which makes the risk of the snow getting loose from the ice acute. If you must do off-piste snowshowing please do it next year, preferably during january or early february when the air should be cold enough to keep everything well stuck.
-mark