Local mountain guides host free information event

Jasper mountain guides Rupert Wedgwood and Peter Amann will spend this Saturday afternoon sharing avalanche safety skills with the community free of charge.

They’re hosting the event because it can be difficult for people to get a chance to practice with transceivers, especially in a group setting, Wedgwood said. A local sports store owner will supply transceivers, radio devices designed to help locate people buried in snow, with which participants can practice.

They can be difficult to use, especially as the technology has changed quite a bit over the past decade. “There’s stress involved as well,” Amann said. “If your child, or spouse, or friend, is buried, you need to keep it together.”

What makes it more difficult is the fact that there are a number of brands of transceivers, each with unique characteristics. “My guess is there’s a half dozen brands in town, but we’ll have experts who can speak to most,” Wedgwood said. 

Wedgwood, who is also a park warden, said statistics show that chances of survival dramatically increases with a transceiver. “If a person’s rescued within 15 minutes they stand the best chance for survival,” he said.

The pair, who are certified under the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and both sit on its professionalism and ethics committee, will also be available to discuss other safety practices. For instance, some recreationists sport air balloon systems, or packs with balloons that inflate in an attempt to keep the person above the snow. 

Wedgwood and Amann will talk about probing, a technique used once a signal has been narrowed down, in which a long pole is used to find the buried person. 

The way rescuers shovel has also been reviewed, and a conveyer belt method has been developed to reduce the amount of time it takes to reach a buried person. The shovelers form a V-shape and pass the snow along, away from where the buried person is.

“The idea is to create a ramp down to the person,” Wedgwood said. “It’s much easier than trying to haul someone out of a hole.”

The last avalanche fatality in Jasper National Park was at the end of August when two German hikers were killed on Mount Athabasca and the last local died at Whistler Creek in 2002, Wedgwood said. “There have been many people killed, including locals,” he said. 

“If you spend a lifetime in the mountains, like a taxi driver, you’re going to have a fender bender. Peter and I have many friends who have been killed in avalanches. No one’s immune, but if you’re able to introduce a buffer of caution and being well-prepared, when that does happen, you’ll have a high chance of making it out alive.”

Amann said the quote “the avalanche doesn’t know you’re an expert” came to mind. “It’s so true, just when you think you know what you’re doing, you’re going to get caught,” he said.

Watch around town for posters regarding Wedgwood and Amann’s avalanche beacon training, which will take place Saturday, Dec. 20 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the soccer field near the dog park. This is the first time the two are putting on a free event for the public like this. 

“The whole feeling of having somebody buried is really scary,” Amann said. “You’re suddenly dealing with a huge amount of stress and I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody.”