OBLIGATION ARTVA, SHOVEL AND PROBE

OBLIGATION ARTVA, SHOVEL AND PROBE
NEW RULES ON SAFETY IN THE MOUNTAINS: ARTVA, SHOVEL AND PROBE OBLIGATION On 1 January 2022, the Italian legislative decree of 28 February 2021 n. 40, which provides for new regulations on safety in winter sports and which in article 26 (Off-piste skiing, ski-mountaineering and hiking activities), paragraph 2, legislates: "Persons who practice ski-mountaineering or ski off-piste or excursion activities in particular snow-covered environments, also using snowshoes, where, due to the snow and meteorological conditions, there is a risk of avalanches, they must be equipped with special electronic signaling and search systems, shovel and snow probe, to guarantee a suitable emergency intervention. This is the law decree published in the Official Gazette, a provision which also extends to hikers and snowshoe hikers the duty to carry the avalanche self-rescue kit (ARTVA, shovel and probe), equipment hitherto used only by ski mountaineers and some freeriders. What is taken for granted by ski mountaineers and, in recent years also by freeriders, is quite foreign in the world of hiking and snowshoeing. And this not only in practitioners, but it makes me think of those who, for example, rent snowshoes to occasional practitioners without this equipment. Then the law obliges you to have the avalanche self-rescue kit in your backpack, but what does it say about the ability to use it? And what can be done to spread awareness of the risks involved in visiting the mountains in winter when there is snow? The most common and heartfelt saying for those who go to the mountains in winter, and even in summer, is always and in any case that "There is no zero risk", so when you go out for a trip with the splitboard, snowshoes or skis, away from the beaten track, remember that in addition to having the avalanche self-rescue kit with you, you must also be able to use it!


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