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Injury forces skiers to build igloo to survive

Three ski-tourers and their rescuers built an igloo to survive overnight in the mountains when one of the party became injured.

Published: 14 March 2016 12:02 CET
Injury forces skiers to build igloo to survive
Knowing how to build a snow shelter can be the difference between life and death. Photo: Claudio Luchini/File

The trio were ski touring at around 3,000m altitude on the Radüner Rothorn near Davos in the canton of Graubünden on Saturday afternoon when one of them was injured to the extent that he was unable to carry on, reports news agency ATS.

The skiers called rescue services, but due to foggy weather air rescue service Rega was unable to dispatch a helicopter.

Instead, a rescue team comprising three members of the Swiss Alpine Club and a doctor set out on skis.

On reaching the trio, they all set about to dig a shelter in the snow where the seven of them could stay overnight.

They were then picked up the following day by a Rega helicopter, the rescue service told ATS.

According to survival expert Christof Hagen of the Zurich-based Survival Outdoor Schule (SOS), learning how to build a snow shelter is a wise move for anyone venturing to remote places.

“It can make the difference between dying and surviving,” he told The Local.

“Temperatures in snow shelters are always zero degrees or slightly above, and you are protected from wind and snow,” he said.

Building an igloo or snow hole for survival “is the same technique as many mammals living in the snow environment”.

In terms of equipment, a shovel is essential for digging a simple shelter, while an igloo specifically requires a snowsaw – a small, lightweight item that is easy to take with you.

“To build an igloo you need to have quite some experience to be efficient and safe,” said Hagen.

Other, simpler, emergency snow shelters require less experience, he added.

Anyone venturing into the backcountry should also be skilled in safe trail-finding techniques and weather-interpretation, as well as being good at leadership, improvising and adapting to different situations, he advised.

Focusing on Stone Age wilderness techniques, Hagen’s SOS school has been running survival skills courses in winter and summer for 33 years, including igloo-building courses.

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WEATHER

VIDEO: Meet the rooftop snow clearers keeping Stockholm safe

Stockholm's snow-topped buildings may look charming, but heavy snowfall can be dangerous. An army of 'sweepers' take to the city's rooftops to clear them of snow in a carefully managed operation.

Published: 12 February 2021 09:42 CET
VIDEO: Meet the rooftop snow clearers keeping Stockholm safe
Rooftop snow cleaner Andrei Pilan clears buildings in Stockholm's picturesque old town. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP

Teetering on the edge of a black tin roof ten metres (33 feet) above ground, Andrei Plian and Alex Lupu clear a thick white blanket of snow off a building in Stockholm’s historic Gamla Stan (Old Town), while their colleague on the street below keeps watch to warn pedestrians passing by.

While to many the job would be vertigo-inducing, for Plian and Lupu – two roofers by trade – it gives them a chance to admire the view.

“Being here on the roof and looking up at the sky, you feel that freedom,” Plian tells AFP, seemingly ignoring the biting subzero chill.

Secured with ropes, carabiners and a safety harness, he climbs the few remaining steps on a ladder attached to the roof and breaks the serene quiet of the sunny February morning with a clank as his shovel hits the tin roof.

Click on video below to watch:

The constant clearing of snow from the city’s roofs is first and foremost done for “the safety of the people”, but also to maintain the buildings, many of which are hundreds of years old.

“If there is too much snow on the roof it is too heavy for it so you have to take it off,” the 36-year-old says

A ten-year roofing veteran, he moves around fluidly and with confidence. Getting the job done quickly is key as more roofs are waiting, but safety remains a top priority.

“Every time you have to think about safety, it’s the number one rule. You don’t have room for a mistake here. If you make one mistake it could be your last,” Plian says.

In early February, another snow clearer was seriously injured while clearing a roof in the northern Swedish town of Umeå, with initial findings showing he wasn’t wearing his safety harness.

Under Swedish law, property owners are responsible for clearing snow and ice off their buildings if it threatens to fall and injure someone, but accidents are rare.

“As far as I can remember there has only been two deaths in the last 20-30 years or so,” Staffan Moberg, spokesman for the insurer industry group Svensk Försäkring, told AFP.

In one case in 2002, a 14-year-old died after being struck by a large block of ice that broke off a building on Stockholm’s main shopping street Drottninggatan.

Moberg added that they don’t keep statistics on incidents since they are rarely requested, and while accidents do happen on occasion, “the consequences are mostly not lethal and very seldom even severe”.

But after every fresh snowfall, signs immediately sprout up on sidewalks and facades warning passers-by of the risk of falling snow and ice, awaiting the arrival of the “snowploughs” in the sky.

While Plian and Lupu are busy at work on the roof above, Fredrik Ericsson is tasked with ensuring the safety of pedestrians down below.

Using a high-pitched whistle, he signals their comings and goings: when he blows his whistle once the shovelling stops to let people pass, and two whistles signals the all-clear to resume work.

Ericsson concedes that it can be a tricky task as people are often oblivious, sometimes wilfully, to the work going on.

“They don’t show that much respect, they just walk past, so I have to stop and yell at them,” he explains. “They don’t see the danger.”

By AFP’s Helene Dauschy

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