Safety, priority for mountain guides

2024-02-20 16:49:25

Following an article titled “The dead cast a chill on the mountains” published in Le Canard Enchaîné on February 7, 2023, the national union of mountain guides (SNGM), “rather than correcting these errors one by one”, presents “the numerous actions undertaken with all stakeholders to continue to act to improve safety in the mountains, in the profession but also towards all practitioners”.

mountain guides
Off-piste skiing in Sainte Foy ©P.Arpin – SNGM

THENational Union of Mountain Guides (SNGM) would like to present “the numerous actions undertaken with all stakeholders to continue to act to improve safety andn mountain, in the profession but also towards all practitioners”. It is an article titled “The dead cast a chill on the mountains” in Le Canard Enchaîné which pushed him to react.

Diplomas issued by the Ministry of Sports

The diplomas of high mountain guide and ski instructor are issued by the Ministry of Sports after in-depth lessons provided by the National Ski and Mountaineering School located in Chamonix. In both training courses, technical excellence is required before entering training via selection tests. Then, the training addresses knowledge of the natural environment and the regulatory framework of practices, pedagogy, group management and risk management. As the uncertainty is never reduced to zero, however,Future guides and future instructors are also trained to search for avalanche victims since self-rescue is an essential link while waiting for professional help to arrive. Following the new diploma cycle written in 2023, a strengthening of the training of guides on knowledge of the winter environment was noted, and a better integration of issues linked to climate change and the preservation of the natural environment. Finally, due to the risks linked to their activities, these professionals working in the “specific mountain environment” are required to regularly follow “refresher” training

An increasing mobilization in favor of security

Even though for several years, the number of accidents involving groups supervised by des high mountain guides do not increases, the SNGM is particularly mobilized to implement the action plan in favor of security decided during the Security Conference that it organized in 2018 in Nice. In addition to the three days of “refresher training” that all guides must follow every six years with ENSA to renew their professional card, the SNGM encourages its members to voluntarily train on different subjects. To do this, he created the Mountain Guide Training Center. The setting up a feedback system, the fluid exchange of information between colleagues in groups are also part of the actions put in place.

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Moreover, the SNGM participates in the “Regards d’Altitude” project which aims to organize a partnership science system fueled by the observations made by the guides on the numerous phenomena induced by the warming of permafrost: landslides, modification of glaciers, etc. In addition to helping guides make the best decisions (like their WhatsApp exchanges), itThe information will also be used by scientific laboratories to study these phenomena. They will also be shared in aggregate form with all mountain practitioners during the awareness-raising-consultation seminars that State services must now organize in the Alpine departments as part of the Action Plan for Risk Prevention. of Glacial Origin set up by the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Avenues for action for the management of “flagship routes”

Finally, in May 2023, the SNGM co-organized with the French Federation of Alpine Mountain Clubs (FFCAM), the commune of Chamonix Mont-Blanc, and the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix, the first edition of the International Mountain and Mountaineering Meetings. Together, elected officials, associations of guides and federations of French, Italian and Swiss practitioners have developed courses of action for the management of “flagship routes” which concentrate many mountaineers and sometimes pose thorny safety problems when the conditions deteriorate. VSThis path of cooperation and consultation between stakeholders responsible for mountains and mountaineering is a credo of the SNGM. It will actively work to develop it in the years to come, in preference to regulation by external authorities.

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