AFS MOUNTAINEERING
Winter resources
These 6 films outline the Be Avalanche Aware process. If you're watching on mobile it might be better to watch them on a laptop or desktop computer.
The videos will give you an overview of the planning process and a lot of information about avalanche awareness. It is not important to fully understand them at this point. We'll cover these aspects when we meet for the course and out on the mountain. There is a lot of information so don't feel you need to watch all of them in one mammoth session!
You can come back to these videos after the course as a refresher.
I've also included links to some of the practical elements. These can also act as a refresher but the active skills need to be practiced a lot to get any good or confident with them.
For each film, press play (in the centre of the image on the right) and you can select to play in full screen. There is a lot of info and some of the films are relatively long. But I hope it makes sense - even if not in a practical way yet.
0. Introduction
This short video introduces the Be Avalanche Aware process and gives an overview of the content.
Length: 9 minutes
Part 1. Planning - Weather & Conditions
Planning is the most important phase and this video introduces a lot of content. There is a lot to consider but don't be put off. We'll cover the content in practice on the mountain.
Length: 25 minutes
Part 2. Planning - Interpreting Avalanche Forecasts
This film takes you through the Scottish Avalanche Information Service forecasts to highlight the important information and the dos and dont's!
Length: 13 minutes
Part 3. Planning - Party & Landscape
This film looks at factors you can control - the group kit and experience as well as the landscape you choose to visit.
Length: 17 minutes
Part 4. Your Journey
If we've done our planning well, we should be able to have a great day out. But is the weather and are the ground conditions as we expected? How are we doing as a group? Is the terrain what we expected?
Length: 17 minutes
Part 5. Key Places
Key places are decision places. Do we go on, turn back or find another escape route.
Length: 11 minutes
Part 6. Practical Skills - Video links
These links will take you to good videos created by the British Mountaineering Council showing some of the practical elements of walking in winter. They might act as a good reminder for future reference! These will open in a new tab. There are more videos including many of the aspects covered above, but these are the ones covering the more practical elements. Bear in mind that we may not cover all of these topics - a lot will depend on the conditions as well as the level you're booked on.
1. Choosing boots and crampons
7. Kicking steps and self arrest
Part 7. Downloads
Please refer to the Gear you'll need page to download a checklist of the equipment needed for coming on a winter course. Here are some resources for avalanche awareness. Simply click on the icon to download as a pdf.