Avalanche
While most of the supplies needed for avalanche-prone areas entail search-and-rescue and risk assessment equipment, avalanches can also obstruct roads, damage property, and cause utility loss.
Sign up for Avalanche Alerts, and consider completing a CPR and first aid training course.
Avalanche Stockpiles Should Include:
The Basics
Refer to the Basic Stockpile List, including all items for Evacuating and Sheltering In Place.
Take special note of the following items: NOAA radio, first aid kit, helmet, reflective blanket, hand warmers, inventory of home contents, cell phone, whistle
Snow Tools
Keep a snow shovel and pickaxe for freeing up entrances, exits and paths, and for search and rescue after an avalanche.
A collapsible avalanche probe is a metal rod used to probe through snow when searching for avalanche victims.
In addition to being used to free victims and clear obstructions, a snow saw can be used to create snow barriers and snow shelters.
Locators
An avalanche beacon should be worn in high-risk areas, to enable search and rescue teams to quickly identify your location should you become buried or stranded.
RECCO reflectors are small objects that often come built into snow gear that reflect signals back to RECCO detectors. The RECCO system can prove helpful when searching for avalanche or blizzard victims, but should not be used in lieu of a proper avalanche beacon.
Avalanche Airbag
An avalanche airbag can both help you rise to the surface during an avalanche, as well as creating a pocket of air around you should you become buried.
Avalung
An avalung pulls air from a snowpack to help a buried victim breathe.
Risk Assessment Tools
A slope meter can help determine avalanche risk by measuring inclines. 38 degrees is the angle at which avalanche risk begins to substantially increase.
Differently sized snow grains pose various degrees of avalanche risk. A snow crystal card will help you make an avalanche risk assessment.
