Our safety on the slopes

You can't talk about the dog handler without talking about his dog!

They are a pair trained to search for victims buried under avalanches. It's a long training course where the symbiosis between the two must be perfect. Every year, these dog teams intervene on numerous avalanches as a complement to traditional rescue teams.

A ski run is a space, groomed or ungroomed, between two lines of wooden poles called markers. These markers are of different colours depending on the difficulty of the piste.

On the right-hand side of each marker, a fluorescent orange height of around 20 cm has been added. This allows you to see which side of the track you're on in bad weather.

Regular marked signs give you your position on the track: the closer you are to number 1, the closer you are to the end of the track.

These marked signs are invaluable in helping the ski patrollers to locate the emergency services: when you raise the alarm, never forget to take down the name, number and sector where you are and give it to the ski patrol office.

While you sleep, we are preparing your day.

The PIDA stands for " Avalanche Triggering Intervention Plan ".

This is a procedure to make the open ski area safe, wherever avalanches have been recorded and/or observed.

It is implemented in the ski area as soon as a significant snowfall occurs, with the aim of protecting people and property.

On trigger days, weather conditions permitting, the ski patrols start work very early in the morning so that the slopes can be made safe and the ski area can be opened early in the morning.

Before talking about equipment, you need to find out about the snow conditions from the professionals (ski patrollers, instructors, guides' office), check the weather forecast, the  avalanche risk bulletin (BRA) and know the route you are going to take. It's also important not to go off on your own and to inform friends and family where you're going.

In terms of equipment, you need at least an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and a probe, but beyond that, you need to know how to use it. To do this, you need to practise regularly: a DVA Park (a small area where DVAs are buried under the snow) is available free of charge at the Col de la Chal.

You can also use an avalanche Air Bag back pack, but all this equipment is not a guarantee of survival: if you have the slightest doubt about the slope you want to tackle, you must give up straight away.

In the event of an emergency, your mobile phone allows you to call the 112 emergency number.
If you are in an area without network coverage from your operator, it may be difficult to make an emergency call via this specific network.

If other networks are available (for example, those of other operators or public Wi-Fi networks), your phone may try to connect to these networks to make an emergency call, even if it is not your usual operator's network.
The people on the other end of the line will relay the alert to us.

Remember to locate yourself as best you can by giving your geolocation if possible.