Man's best friend is also the skier's best friend. The avalanche-trained dog is the ideal companion when searching for victims.
Their strong sense of smell enables them to find people buried up to two meters (6,56 ft) under the snow!
On 22 January 2020, members of the PGHM of Chamonix and the CRS (Compagnies républicaines de sécurité) collaborated in an avalanche simulation at the Planpraz ski domain in order to test eight newly trained dogs.
Eight dogs & eight handlers followed an intense three weeks course in order to become ready for avalanche rescue interventions.
The three weeks long intense course was organized by the National Mountaineering and Ski Training Center (Centre national d’entraînement à l’alpinisme et au ski) of the CRS.
During the three weeks of training, the applicants had to learn how to build a strong partnership with their dogs.
The eight pairs were able to validate their training through an avalanche simulation held by the PGHM of Chamonix, in collaboration with the CRS.
A large-scale exercise took place on 22 January 2020. Each pair was launched in search of one or more fictitious victims buried in the snow.
Both members of the PGHM of Chamonix and CRS played the victims roles for this avalanche simulation exercise.
After validation of the course, dogs and their owners can be deployed on the territory, mainly in the Alps and the Pyrenees, to assist mountain rescue. Dogs are systematically sent to the area when an avalanche occurs and the alert is given.
Among all dog breeds, three stand out for this important mission: the German Shepherd, the Belgian Shepherd and the Malinois. Impressive vigorous dogs capable of running fast, digging and extracting a buried victim.
Soon, these eight new pairs will fly to neighbouring stations, ready to intervene at the first alert.
