In this short video I show the procedure to reduce the lenght of the regulation bar on Grivel crampons, to fit the crampon to small boots. You just need to remove the bar, turn it 180° and replace it on the other crampon (in order to maintain crampon both right and left). The function of the regulation spring is to hold the front section in place, but it can be removed (after taking off the regulation bar) and replaced with a screw and bolt: this gives you an extra two sizes.
Month: January 2011
Crampons on snowboard boots
In this post I publish some pictures of the Grivel G12 crampons (New Classic binding) perfectly fitting on a Burton Ruler snowboard boot (video review of the boot HERE). Nice job for Burton’s team: Shrinkage™ reduces the boot’s overall footprint one full size, hoping we won’t see anymore those enormous ships we saw in last 10 years.
For those people who asked me, this is the video of a BSA tour I made with this combination of crampons and snowboard boots (the full review of the tour in my blog is HERE):
Serata "Montagna Amica" con il CAI – 28/01/2011
From SITO COMUNE DI MIRANO
Serata “Montagna Amica” con il CAI
Notizia del 21.01.2011
Il Club Alpino Italiano – sezione di Mirano “Alberto Azzolini” promuove il progetto interregionale di prevenzione e sicurezza “Montagna Amica”, che interessa il Veneto e il Friuli Venezia Giulia, e organizza unconvegno-serata venerdì 28 gennaio 2011 alle ore 21.00 presso l’Auditorium “Arnaldo Trevisan” della Cittadella degli Studi di Mirano. I responsabili del CAI illustreranno le caratteristiche e le problematiche dell’ambiente innevato, i rischi presenti, le misure di prevenzione di base per effettuare escursioni montane in piena sicurezza.
Questo appuntamento, che ha come tema la prevenzione del rischio valanghe e, più in generale, del rischio di frequentazione della montagna in ambiente innevato, ha lo scopo di creare sensibilità, ovvero, accrescere la consapevolezza dei rischi e dei limiti personali. L’iniziativa si rivolge a tutti i frequentatori della montagna invernale, siano essi sci alpinisti, sciatori (in pista o fuoripista), escursionisti a piedi o con le racchette da neve, snowboarder, etc.
All’incontro è invitata tutta la cittadinanza, in particolare proprio chi possiede poca o nessuna conoscenza in materia di rischio valanghe.
Inoltre il CAI sta programmando degli incontri con gli studenti delle scuole miranesi per diffondere una cultura di rispetto della montagna e di un corretto escursionismo.
Questo appuntamento, che ha come tema la prevenzione del rischio valanghe e, più in generale, del rischio di frequentazione della montagna in ambiente innevato, ha lo scopo di creare sensibilità, ovvero, accrescere la consapevolezza dei rischi e dei limiti personali. L’iniziativa si rivolge a tutti i frequentatori della montagna invernale, siano essi sci alpinisti, sciatori (in pista o fuoripista), escursionisti a piedi o con le racchette da neve, snowboarder, etc.
All’incontro è invitata tutta la cittadinanza, in particolare proprio chi possiede poca o nessuna conoscenza in materia di rischio valanghe.
Inoltre il CAI sta programmando degli incontri con gli studenti delle scuole miranesi per diffondere una cultura di rispetto della montagna e di un corretto escursionismo.
Forcella delle Sasse (2476 m) and Cima della Moiazzetta della Grava (2727 m)
This could be one of the next tours, with a total drop of 1350 m, if locating the start in Pecol. It’s a BSA, maybe a little more if we consider the final top (II).
Cima della Moiazzetta della Grava:
Forcella delle Sasse:
Both:
Avalanche safety tutorial
From www.avalanche.org, a quick tutorial concerning avalanche safety: AVALANCHE SAFETY TUTORIAL (click here).
North American Avalanche Danger Scale:
European Avalanche Danger Scale:
Avalanche survival curve
From http://pistehors.com:
“Researchers using data gathered by the Swiss Avalanche Research Center at Davos for accidents between 1981 and 1991 have plotted the survival probability of a victim buried under snow against time.
[…]
This figure was quite surprising for researchers, despite advances in medicine and search and rescue such as the widespread introduction of Recco equipment the death rate from avalanches remains fairly constant at around 25-30 per year in France or around 60% of victims on extraction. This is largely due to the average response time of the search and rescue services which is 45 minutes in France. This is the time to process the emergency call, warm the motor of a helicopter, fly to and locate the scene of the accident then deploy the search and rescue services. Two thirds of avalanche victims will succumb in that critical half hour.
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| Avalanche survival curve. |
The Four Phases of the Avalanche Survival Curve
Survival Phase
In the first 15 minutes 93% of avalanche victims are still alive, indeed most of the deaths occur during the fall either by hitting rocks or trees or being carried over cliffs or by being crushed or suffocated by the weight of snow. Wet snow avalanches, characteristic of spring, are most likely to suffocate or crush skiers during this phase but it is less common for skiers to be caught these.
Asphyxiation Phase
In this half hour period, two thirds of victims will die from asphyxiation. Apart from wet snow avalanches the snow encasing victims contains a significant amount of oxygen and is permeable. If a victim has protected or can clear airways and can breath (that is the weight of snow is not compressing the lungs or thorax) they can usually breath. During this period the surrounding air will either be exhausted or the victims respiration will condense and freeze slowly rendering the surrounding snow impermeable.
Waiting Phase
Between 45 minutes and rescue the victim will probably have found an air pocket and is in a phase of relative security which will allow them to survive for a considerable period. Death is either from slow asphyxia or hypothermia. With an adequate air supply hypothermia is slowed down.
Rescue Phase
Between being rescued and arrival and recovering in hospital the risk of hypothermia is great. Hypothermia begins when the body temperature drops below 35° C (body temperature is around 36.5/37.0° C) and it is extremely rare for a victim to survive once their body temperature drops to 29° C. The survival phase is critical, when the body is cooled it will divert blood from the extremities to the vital organs, when the body is warmed blood will return to the extremities but at too low a temperature this will cool the vital organs causing death by thermal shock.
In an off-piste accident in the Sept Laux ski station on the 27/01/2001 two victims were rescued during this period by the emergency services but succumbed later in Grenoble hospital.
Conclusion
The basic message is that to survive an avalanche you have to be rescued within 15 minutes, with half an hour to wait before the rescue services arrive on the scene this comes down to your friends. Your life depends on carrying and being proficient in the use of avalanche transceivers and having snow probes and shovels. In ideal conditions it will take around 5 minutes to locate a victim with a transceiver and 10 to 15 minutes to dig them out from the average depth of burial which is 1 meter.
However these figures shouldn’t create a false sense of security. In an exercise the author performed with the large Davos rescue services it took 45 minutes to locate and find 5 victims in an avalanche site using transceivers, dogs and probes. If you follow the rules you should never have more than 1 person caught in an avalanche but you may have to climb back up to rescue them which will waste precious minutes and energy.”
alesantuz.com 