- You must always wear a climbing harness when freeriding on a glacier. Put the harness on before setting off on the glacier so that you can rope up at any time.
- Never take off your skis or snowboard unless you are properly roped up. For example, if you are putting skins on or taking them off your skis, only take one ski off at a time.
- Always be roped up during ascents. It doesn’t take much time and isn’t really a bother. However, it’s a huge safety benefit and, if you’re also planning to descend the glacier, it allows you to scout the terrain for crevasses and check out a safe route.
- Never go freeriding on the glacier alone. In poor visibility, you must always be roped up whilst descending.
- Stop as little as possible on glaciers. Stopping is more dangerous than skiing, as you exert more concentrated pressure on the surface.
- If the group stops, make sure you don’t stand too close to one another. This would place too much weight on a snow bridge, potentially causing it to collapse and endangering the whole group.
- If, whilst riding, you see a crevasse just ahead of you (it may not be a huge hole), do not stop; instead, ride over it at speed. The risk of falling through whilst stopping is greater than if
you ride straight over it. - Look out for areas where you can see open crevasses or where there might be crevasses beneath the snow: for example, in hollows on the edges of terrain, in and around serac zones, and in flatter areas. Try to avoid these critical zones as best you can.
- If you have to ski through a crevasse zone, make absolutely sure you are roped up during this section. Even if you’re not familiar with the glacier, it’s not a bad idea – for the first run, for example – to check out the route whilst roped up, and then ski through without a rope the second time if it was safe.
Glaciers – watch out for crevasses!
