On Thursday, February 8, 2024, part of the employees of the Veľká Fatra National Park participated in a basic avalanche course, which was professionally provided by the regional center of the Mountain Rescue Service of the Veľká Fatra in Donovaly. The weather and snow conditions were not exactly ideal, but this is also the case in the mountains and the safety of field workers cannot be postponed.
The first theoretical part of the course was focused on acquiring basic knowledge in the field of avalanche prevention, such as the causes and risk factors of avalanches, types of avalanches, principles of movement in avalanche terrain, basic avalanche equipment and its use.
Since it is not enough to just have avalanche equipment, the aim of the second practical part was to practice its use. With the help of avalanche finders, the participants searched for fictitious buried persons and tried to recognize the buried object or distinguish a boulder from a fellow figurant with avalanche probes.
We would like to thank the staff of the regional center of the Mountain Rescue Service of the Veľká Fatra for an interesting and professionally high-quality lecture with illustrative demonstrations. We believe that thanks to this course, the safety of our employees will increase, as well as visitors to the Veľká Fatra National Park, whom they can help in critical situations.
Text: Mgr. Viktor Blaho
Photo: archive of S-NPVF
