The Rescue Compass: a new avalanche rescue decision-making tool

Rescuers attending to avalanche victims are sometimes exposed to considerable risk. Against this background, the Avalanche Rescue Commission of ICAR, the International Commission for Alpine Rescue, called for the creation of a handy risk management instrument to assist rescuers.

For the last one and a half years, the Rescue Compass, comprising a handbook and a dial, has been the undergoing development at the SLF in cooperation with international rescue experts. It has been tested and subject to a consultation period with Alpine associations.

Checklist on a dial

The compass, in the form of a dial, is integrated in the front cover of the manual and intended for use as a quick checklist. It assists the rescuer with a consecutive assessment of the mission, environment, terrain and human and other resources. The manual contains additional useful information as well as important checklists and forms.

Figure 1: The Rescue Compass is used rather like a parking disc and assists avalanche rescuers with risk management. The individual risk categories, namely terrain, environment (weather/avalanche) and human/resources, appear in the triangular window in turn.

The Rescue Compass does not make decisions on behalf of rescuers. It is envisaged as a memory aid to facilitate decision-making, but can also be used for training purposes. The avalanche rescuer assesses his mission first (see Fig. 1) by answering a simple question for each item in the white segment of the dial: Does the current situation correspond closer to the statements in the green (low risk) or the red (high risk) segment.

The dial can be used in turn to assess the other categories as well: environment (weather/avalanche), terrain and human/resources.

Figure 2: The picture shows the entire compass dial, only one-third of which is visible, depending on the category of risk that is being assessed.

The rotating dial resembles the rose of a compass, from which the name of the new tool is borrowed. The dial is the key component. The handbook contains additional information on the individual subjects, which can also be used during avalanche rescuer training courses.

Avalanche rescue checklists and forms

The Rescue Compass also includes practical information and documents for rescuers, such as the avalanche danger scale, avalanche rescue checklists, instructions for marking an avalanche field, forms for logging an avalanche rescue, and equipment, team and witness lists. A flow chart depicting an avalanche rescue mission is prominently displayed on the back cover.

Both ICAR and the SLF hope believe that the Rescue Compass will make an effective contribution to minimising the risk that accompanies avalanche rescue missions. Its target group consists of rescuers and rescue organisations in the international arena – similar tools are currently available in only a few countries. The new instrument is not intended to compete with, but to complement existing decision-making aids. Above all, experience is the best source of knowledge. Such experience is gained not only during critical missions, but also by attending basic and advance avalanche rescue training courses.

The Rescue Compass was printed with the financial support of ICAR, the Avalanche Service of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI-SVI), and the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu). The compass and manual are available in German, French, Italian, Spanish and English, with either the European or the North American danger scale. The Rescue Compass can be ordered from the WSL shop.